


The Baby Simulator

by Britishapparel



Series: Baby [1]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-23 22:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10728135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Britishapparel/pseuds/Britishapparel
Summary: Navigating the last few months of senior year can be difficult, it can also be made way more complicated when you have to look after a baby with someone who you hate.AU. High School Senior Year.(Formerly called Baby)





	1. Week One: Part One

**Author's Note:**

> I've posted this before but deleted it and revamped it a little. Hope you enjoy.  
> Comment your favorite part of the chapter!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning...

**Week One.**  


**_Tuesday._ **

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

"I'm telling you Kelley, she is the infuriating person on this earth. God I dislike her." I ranted to my best friend of two years, we met when we were four and in day care and now we're seniors and nearing the end of our school journey.

  
"Chris, I hate to break it to you but, don't you think you talk about Heath a hell of a lot considering you despise her, or so you say anyway. I think she's okay." Kelley returns.

  
"I only talk about her when she rubs me up the wrong way, which is pretty much every single day, and anyway, you only like her because you can bond over soccer and how many girls you hook up with." I said before shooting Kelley a glare, she lets out a small laugh in return. She goes to say something but then thinks best not to as we continue our walk to class.

 

  
**_***_ **

 

  
"We're seniors anyway so we won't be here for much longer, you just need to find a way to not let her get under your skin." Kelley spoke after I gave another apparent rant about Tobin Heath during History class.

  
"It's impossible, she's the most manipulative, deceiving, scheming person on the planet. How do you expect her to not get under my skin, she gets under every ones skin. Its what she does best." I inform her. Kelley shakes her head, lets out a small laugh and then continues to write the notes down off of the board at the front of the room.

  
"I need to ask you a serious question." Kelley stopped writing suddenly sounded very serious which wasn't usual for her at all.

  
"Fire away." I spoke cautiously, fearing what may escape my friends mouth next.

  
"Are you jealous of Heath?" She asked and I let out a loud laugh which earned me a glare from our teacher, Ms Jacobs.

  
"I'll take that as a no then." She mumbled before turning her attention back to the notes she had earlier been writing.

 

History finally finished after what felt like hours and now I had psychology which was the only class that Kelley wasn't in. The terrible part about psychology is that none other than Tobin Powell Heath, the notorious smartass herself is in psychology. She's the top of every class she takes, she has the highest GPA at this school, Greenwich High. But, she is probably one of the most infuriating people on the planet. Oh, and not to mention she dislikes my whole being, apparently my GPA is almost the exact same as hers and she is apparently _threatened_ by me, which I think is utterly ridiculous as _nobody could ever compare to Heath_ (her words). Ever since we met when we were freshman we have seemed to have this rivalry, we constantly are trying to out do each other and it seems like neither of us are ever willing to back down.

 

 

**_***_ **

 

  
"Right class, for the next four weeks we will be looking at a slightly different topic." My psychology teacher Mrs Montgomery addressed the class before pausing to change the slide on her projector.

  
"Teen parenting; as psychology is all about mind studies and behaviour the school and I decided this was perfect to observe how teens behaviour may change when faced with an obstacle, the obstacle being a baby," she explained and it appeared that most people in the room were not excited but intrigued perhaps by the project.  
"Now you will need to work in pairs for this project so pair up!" She said way too enthusiastically.

  
I looked around to see that everyone had already decided on who they wanted to work with. _Going solo then I guess._ I thought to myself. Sadly just after I thought that the one and only Tobin Heath walked in.

  
"Morning Miss Heath, better late then never I suppose. Now I have already explained the next project to the class but it looks like Christen doesn't have a partner so would you please work with her?" Mrs Montgomery asked sweetly.

  
"Sure." She said before heading over to my desk swiftly.  
I explained the project to Tobin even though I don't think she listened to a word I said, I honestly have no idea how she has the highest GPA in the school.

 

 

**_***_ **

 

 

At lunch I explained my situation to Kelley, who simply just laughed at my misfortune.  
We talked for the rest of lunch hour just about anything and everything. As it was Tuesday, or better known as the day every week when Kelley sleeps over mine, I was disappointed when she told me she had to go to soccer practice late tonight at her club meaning she wouldn't be able to stay. However, she did also say she arranged company for and knowing Kelley like I did I was petrified who or what would turn up at my house after school.

School was finally finished and I made my way into the school parking lot and jumped into my car before heading home.  
As usual when I arrived home neither of my parents were home. As my parents were both doctors they were hardly ever home so I kinda just got used to looking after myself.  
I had been home for only five minutes when I heard the doorbell ring.

  
"Nice place." I heard her say when I opened the door.

  
"Please tell me I'm in a dreadful nightmare right now." I said deadly serious.

  
"Are you going to invite me in or are you going to make me stand out her until tomorrow morning with our baby." She said pointing to the backpack on her back.

  
"You're staying all night?" I questioned with wide eyes.

  
"I'm practically Kelley tonight, enjoy my company I don't offer it to many." She spoke confidently, I rolled my eyes.

  
"I'm sure people don't ask for your company often either," I replied, my voice filled with sarcasm, this time it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Come in then." I said stepping aside to let her in.

  
"Do you want to see our child?" She questioned after sitting next to me on one of the couches in my living room.

  
"Sure, why not." I respond. She unzips her backpack and pulls out a realistic looking plastic doll wearing a pink dress.

  
"IT'S A GIRL!" Tobin yells which causes me to let out a small laugh.

  
"So what do we call her?" I questioned.

  
"I was thinking Grace." She said and I nodded.

  
So it was decided Tobin and I's baby was called Grace.

 

 

**_***_ **

 

  
"So after the morning Grace will stay here at all times and I will visit sometimes, just so I can get an A, because if I'm being honest I don't give a damn about that plastic thing with a power pack inside." Tobin spoke before taking a mouthful of the pasta I had cooked for us.

  
"No, no, no, Heath, you will pull your weight, I'm not doing all your work so you can visit when you feel so you can get an A." I spoke, annoyance clear in my voice.

  
"Listen Press, I'm presenting you with the perfect situation. You take of the baby, I visit maybe once a week and we get an A. Plus that way you don't have to see me that often." Tobin offered, and honestly I didn't mind the idea but only because of the fact that it would involve seeing as little of Tobin as possible.

  
"I suppose that may work. But what about during the day when we're in school. Who looks after Grace?" I asked, noticing a flaw in the project.

  
"Well we wither carry it around school all day or we drop her off in the morning somewhere and you pick her up after school." Tobin suggested before she took a drink from the glass of water on the dinner table in front of her.

  
"My grandma lives about five minutes away so I guess she could look after her." I proposed.

  
"Perfect." Tobin said before sliding her chair back and making her way into the living room. I followed.

  
"What are you doing?" I asked as I saw her sat on my couch with her feet up on the coffee table in the centre of the room.

  
"I figured if I'm going to be here all night I may as well make myself comfortable." Tobin stated as if it was obvious.

  
"You're staying? All night? You were actually being serious earlier?" I asked with a small scoff.

  
"I told you earlier, I'm practically Kelley tonight." She reiterated

As if right on cue a loud shriek escaped from the plastic doll that was placed on my couch. Tobin and I both sighed and looked at each other.

"What do we do?" I asked frantically and Tobin looked from the baby to me, back to the baby and back to me. She then let out a loud laugh.

  
"First I think we need to check the diaper." She said and I nodded but was confused.

  
"The baby is plastic, it can't do that can it?" I asked and she laughed again.

  
"No, but every so often I imagine it will have the response that any baby would have if it needs changing or feeding. We have to _change_ the diaper, all the activity is recorded in the power pack and put onto the computer to see how we did." She explains as she _changes_ the diaper and then hold the baby close to her and rubs her back, a small was across her face and she had a sparkle in her eye. A small smile creeps onto my face from the sight.

Who knew Tobin Heath was a complete softy.

 

 

**_***_ **

 

 

Eventually the baby calmed down and me and Tobin put it to bed on a make shift bed that we made from cushions and spare blankets.

  
"It's only 6:30. It feels like you've been here for way longer." I told Tobin as we sat on opposite ends of the couch and watched the end of sports center on ESPN.

  
"Well, you still have all night with me." She said with a smirk.

  
"This must be strange for you, you know staying in a girls house for more than two hours and not sleeping with her. Aren't you like usually in and out in like twenty miutes?" I asked, my voice layered with sarcasm.

  
"You're only jealous because I can get laid whenever I want and you can't." She retaliated and I scoffed.

  
"Sex isn't the most important thing in life, you know that right?" I returned, now slightly annoyed.

  
"Sure whatever you say. But when was the last time you got laid?" Tobin asked with a smirk.

  
"I'm not discussing my sex life with you of all people." I said, now very annoyed.

  
"Come on Chris." Tobin encouraged.

  
"I'm not discussing it. That's final." I finished. My voice slightly raised now, I didn't want to shout because I didn't want to wake the baby.

  
"You've never done it have you. You've never had sex." Tobin said with a smirk.

  
"No, it's not important though. Sex isn't everything." I said again.

  
"Surely you're curious though?" Tobin asked, I looked at her with an unamused expression.

  
"I told you, I'm not talking about my sex live with you." I said and she finally shut up. Muttering a _fine_ under her breath.

 

 

**_***_ **

 

 

Tobin and I sat in silence on the couch for a while. I was on my phone and she was watching some stupid soccer game between the Portland Timbers and Chicago Fire.

"How can you possible find this sport interesting?" I asked as I looked over to her as she watched intently. She almost seemed to analysing every thing that was happening, play by play I could see her mouth slightly opening and closing and mumbling things under her breath. It was strange to see her so focused on something. It was different. It was nice.

  
"How can you not find this interesting. It's the beautiful game. The best sport on the planet." Tobin stated as she looked at me quickly before looking back to the TV screen. That was the first time she had looked away from the screen in the whole 41 minutes that had already been played.

Half time quickly rolled around and Tobin got up to grab herself a glass of water.

"Do you have anywhere that I go and chnage? I figured if I was going to be staying the night I should probably wear something more comfortable." She said as she looked down at her outfit that consisted of white ripped jeans, a grey tank top and a camouflage snap back.

  
"You can change in my room, it's up the stairs and the first door on the right." I told her and then heard her running up the stairs.

She returned shortly wearing sweat pants and a nike top, she still had the snap back on and this caused me to let out a small laugh.

"What?" She asked as she looked at me in a slightly confused state.

  
"Do you ever not wear a hat?" I questioned as my eyes moved away from hers and I looked at the TV screen as the second half the game was about to start.

  
She shook her and laughed quietly before sitting on the couch again. This time a little closer than before.

"You're rooms nice, you have a lovely home. But where are your parents?" She asked cautiously.

  
"They're both doctors, they work in the ER room, they aren't home much. Its sucks but you get used to it." I said as I looked at the ground.

  
"That must suck. I'm sorry, but at least they're helping people." She said as she leaned over to grab my hand and gave it a quick squeeze. I quickly pulled my hand away. She looked at me for a second before returning her eyes to the game.

  
"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that." I said sharply.

  
"Why are you scared that I'm trying to get in your pants?"she asked sarcastically.

  
"You don't even stand a chance with me. I'm way too good for you." I told her matter of factly.

  
"Really? Prove it." She said as her face gradually got closer to mine.  
I put my hand up against her chest and pushed her away.

  
"Nice try." I said and I picked up my phone.

  
"Whatever." Tobin said like a stroppy toddler.

"It's only 8:30, what do you want to do?" Tobin asked as the soccer game finished. She had moved herself to the opposite end of the couch once again.

  
"I was going to do some homework, you can join me if you want or you can leave and go to one of your girls and enjoy the rest if the night with someone that will let you get in their pants." I said and immediately I knew I had hit a nerve.

  
"Do you hate me?" She asked, her voice small and quiet.

  
"I wouldn't say I hate you, I dislike but don't hate you." I returned carefully.

  
"Why? What have I ever done to you?" She asked looking me directly in the eyes.

  
"You're arrogant, infuriating, you act like you can get any girl at the drop of a hat, you seem to have every teacher in the palm of your hand even though you barely turn up to school, you get the best grades without doing any work, you're probably one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen and you just rub me up the wrong way." I finished before making my way to the kitchen to grab a drink.

"You think I'm beautiful?" I heard her ask form behind me. She followed me in here. Shit.  
I didn't answer. She sighed.

  
"I get why you might hate me and you probably feel like I don't like you either but I think you're alright, you're smart, funny, talented, you're mice to almost everyone, teachers love you, you're a great actress...and you are beautiful. You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen and trust me I've seen a lot." She finished, we were close. Too close for my liking. She took the bottle of gatorade from my hand and placed it on the counter behind me. She essentially had me corned. But I don't think I minded too much. She took my hands in hers and looked me in the eye and then I traced her eyes as she glanced down at my lips and then to my intertwined hands.  
I could feel her breath on my lips. It was like the whole world had slowed down and everyone was waiting for us to kiss. I was waiting for us to kiss...I think.  
Tobin rested her forehead against mine. I looked down at our hands and then at the floor, she hadn't even kissed me yet and I was already feeling like the world had stopped moving. Is this what the Tobin Heath affect that they talked about felt like.

It hit me...

Was I just another of her _girls,_ was she like this with every girl she tried to sleep with?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by feeling Tobin move one of her hands from mine and placing it on my left hip. I looked up and saw her looking directly into my eyes.

  
"It's so easy to get lost in your eyes." She said as moved closer.

But I pushed her away again...I didn't want to be one of her girls.

"I can't do this, I won't be one of those girls that you fuck and leave and never talk to ever again." I said as I pushed her hand off of my hip and took my hand of hers and went to leave the kitchen. As I was trying to leave I felt her grab my wrist gently but firmly enough to turn me around so I was facing her.

"I don't want you to be one of those girls." She said. It was such a simple phrase but yet it, well, it fucked me up.

  
"I want to help you." She said, I was brought back to reality.

  
"Help me?" I asked, stepping back form her.

  
"You know with your problem." She said awkwardly.

  
"You mean you want to have sex with me so I'm not a virgin anymore?" I raised my voice.

  
"Well...yeah. What did you think I was doing." She said, but her voice didn't sound sure. It was like her head was saying one thing and her heart another.

But she wasn't listening to her heart.

  
"Go. Get the fuck out of my house!" I raised my voice and shouted in her face.

She went to grab her bag from upstairs and I heard her quickly leave.  
The door slamming caused Grace to wake up. I sighed heavily and made my way into the living room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!  
> Comment your favorite part!


	2. Week One: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christen has a dilema and makes a mistake. Kelley opens up and Tobin is more observant than anyone thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2.  
> More Tobin and Christen interaction.  
> Hope you enjoy!

  
**_Wednesday._ **

 

_Tobin's P.O.V._

 

"You told her you could help her with her problem?" Ashlyn asked with a small shake of the head and a small laugh.

  
We were sat in the bleachers of the soccer field of Greenwich High, trying to cool down after a physically demanding practice. Me and Ashlyn were the last two left.

  
"I obviously didn't mean it like that. I meant that if she wanted too, I could you know, show her the ropes." I said before taking a large drink of water from the water bottle that Ash and I were passing between us.

  
"Toby you can't do that. Girls are smart, they know when you're trying to get in their pants. You've got to be smarter about it." Ashlyn explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

  
"I have to do a project with her. Four weeks of it, I told her that I would visit once a week to check in on our baby monitor but I feel like she'll just slam the door in my face or accuse me of trying to get in her pants." I informed Ash of the awkward situation that I had got myself into.

  
"Her and Kelley are like best friends right? Maybe you should get her to talk to her for you. Or even better, go to her house, apologize, maybe take a flower but not a rose. Talk to her, tell her you got the wrong vibe and you want to help on the project in anyway you can. Be her friend, then eventually she'll be in the palm of your hand." Ash explained before she stood up and made her way down the bleachers as she saw her girlfriend, Ali, approach the two of us. I shared a wave with Ali and watched the two walk off together.

  
"What if I don't want to be her friend?" I asked after Ash had left.

 

  
*******

 

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

"I told you, she is the most infuriating person in the world. Not to mention also a total bitch." I ranted to Kelley as she sat opposite me in Starbucks where we met shortly after she finished soccer practice.

  
"I think you need to talk to her. She probably just read the situation wrong. She's not a bad person, you told me what happened and from what you have said, you clearly wanted something to happen. I'll give you her number, you can text her and arrange to meet her somewhere. It doesn't even have to at your house, it can be a public place so that way she won't try anything." Kelley suggested. I sighed and passed my phone over the table to her so she could type Tobin's number into it.

  
"Do I arrange to meet her tonight? I really just want to get this out of the way." I rambled and Kelley laughed as she took a sip from her drink.

  
"Sure. I think that will be a good idea. Remember, if you want something to happen with Tobin that's not a bad thing, okay?" She finished and I nodded.

We both got up and left to go to our separate cars to travel home. Kelley drove off immediately but I waited a few minutes. I sat there just staring at my phone for what felt like forever.

 

_This is Christen. Come to my house at 7. We need to talk. Don't be late._

I pressed send and drove home.

 

  
*******

 

_6:59PM_

  
_Christen's P.O.V_

 

 

I was sat watching re-runs of Friends when I heard a knock at the door. I took a deep breath before opening the door.

Before me stood Tobin Heath holding a White Rose whilst sporting her typical Tobin Heath smile and wearing her typical Tobin Heath outfit of ripped jeans, a tank top and a snap back.

"Hi."

  
"Hey."

  
"Come in." I opened the door just enough to let her in.

  
"I brought you this to say sorry. Ash told me not to bring a rose but it was the first flower I saw and I didn't have a lot of time." She rambled and I felt a small smile creep onto my face.

  
"Thanks." I said with a smile as I took the Rose and placed it on the dinner table in the kitchen.

  
"Shall we sit?" I asked as I walked to the couches in the living room. Tobin followed and much like yesterday, I sat at one end and she sat at the other.

Tobin sat playing with the bottom of her shirt, then moved onto adjusting her hat, then onto playing with the ripped knee of her jeans, today they were blue, unlike yesterday's white pair. She looked great in both. Nobody could deny that Tobin Heath was attractive; she was the perfect mix of athletic but still feminine. She was, as described by some, perfect.

"Where is Grace?" Tobin was first to break the silence.

  
"My Grandma is having her for the night." I informed shortly.

  
"I'm sorry Christen. I meant everything that I said last night. Well, everything apart from the last part. It's your choice if you chose to have sex or not, it's not some sort of problem. I just want you to know that I really wanted to kiss you and I would've stopped if you had told me too. You are a beautiuful, smart and independent young woman and I would be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to you but I should've had a little bit more respect. I also wanted to say that I wanted to help on the project. It's 4 weeks long and I was foolish to think you could handle it all by yourself." Tobin explained. I was amazed. Did Tobin Heath really just apologise?

  
"I..don't know what to say." I spoke honestly, she looked over at me. She moved further up the couch, closer to me. I felt myself stiffen slightly. She noticed and didn't move any closer.

  
A moment passed and I felt her grab my hand, I looked at her and was met with the most beautiful brown eyes looking back at me. I didn't even notice how beautiful they were yesterday. Today I didn't pull my hand away.

"I really want to kiss you right now." Tobin, once again broke the silence. She moved herself even closer to me. I could feel her hot breath in my face, she quickly looked into my eyes as if she was looking for some validation that it was okay for her to continue.

  
"I really want you to kiss me." I said, but my voice was barely above a whisper.

  
Tobin leaned in but for some reason I felt frozen. I looked down at her lips and then into her eyes. She was so close to me.

I wanted this. I wanted her.

Tobin was about an inch from my face and I closed my eyes and just waited for her lips to be on mine. It felt like time was slowing down and everything was moving in slow motion; I eventually felt a soft pair of lips on mine. At first the kiss was shy, almost like she was just grazing her lips across mine. I pulled away and opened my eyes to see her looking at me. I broke the eye contact by looking down at Tobin's lips and then down to our hands which were still entwined. I pulled my hands away and placed my left hand on her right shoulder and my right hand on the left side of her face, I pulled her back in and kissed her again. This time I kissed her more deeply and with more feeling. It felt like my body was on fire.

This is what it was like to feel alive.

Tobin was the first to hear the doorbell ring, she quickly pulled away and sat with her back pressed to the very back of the couch. I sighed and made my way to the door.

"What do you want?" I asked when I saw who was stood on the other side of the door.

  
"I need to talk to you. It's important." Kelley pleaded before pushing herself through the door and into the living room.

  
"You didn't tell me you had a guest Chris." Kelley said with a smirk before planting herself on the couch next to Tobin.

  
"What is so important that you needed to talk to me about?" I asked with a glare in Kelley's direction.

  
"Should I leave?" Tobin asked as she began to get up from the couch.

  
"No. Stay, please." I told her and she sat back down, I sat in between the two.

  
"I'm confused about Hope. She keeps giving me these mixed signals, one day we'll be great and she'll talk to me and I'll feel like she feels something like I do. But then other days she won't even look in my direction, I went to see her earlier and I kissed her and told her how I felt and she just shut down on me." Kelley explained sadly. I turned the TV off and turned to my best friend.

  
"Hope feels the same way as you do, anybody can see that. She just has a weird way of showing how she feels. You make her happy, she's always smiling when you're with her and when you're not with her she doesn't shut up about you. The thing about Hope is that she's not the best talker and if you push her to talk then she'll shut down, especially if you push her to talk about her feelings. But trust me, she likes you just as much as you like her." I heard Tobin explain from behind me. I turned to face her bewildered at the fact she was so observant.

  
"But how do I get through to her that it's okay to talk and she shouldn't be afraid to talk about her feelings. I want to be with her, but that can't happen if she doesn't talk to me." Kelley returned, I felt Tobin place her hand on my thigh and lean foreward, almost looking around me to look Kelley in the eyes. This felt natural, something this simple shouldn't feel this right.

  
"Tell her that then. Tell her you want to be with her, but don't be too pushy waiting for a reply. Hope will take her time, she'll have to let it sink in. She'd be a fool to not want to be with you, you make her too happy and she knows that." Tobin finished and Kelley smiled.

  
"I guess I should leave you two alone to carry on whatever you had started here." Kelley said with a smirk, obviously noticing the placement of Tobin's hand. I shot her a glare as she left the living room and eventually left my house.

  
"Thank you for talking to Kelley. I have no idea what is going on with Hope most of the time but I guess you know her well." I thanked Tobin, she removed her hand from my leg and placed it on the small of my back because of the fact I was leaning forward and sitting on the edge of the couch.

  
"It's no problem. I just notice things in people, their movements, the way they speak, the way the act around different people. It's really interesting to me." She explained and removed her hand as I moved to sit back properly on the couch.

  
"It's weird, I've known you for four years but I felt like I've learnt more about you in these past few days then I did in those four years." I explained and saw her smile out of the corner of my eye.

  
"I should probably be going." Tobin said as she got up from the couch.

  
I also got up and grabbed her wrist and turned her around to face me.

  
"Stay please." I said before taking a step closer to her and leaning in, I felt her hands hold onto my hips as I snaked my arms around my neck. I felt our lips connect and it was like we just started from where we left off earlier, i felt Tobin pull me even closer as I felt her pull on the bottom of my shirt. Tobin's lips left mine and they made their way to my neck, at first she was gentle but then started biting on my neck and I was sure she was going to leave bruises. I pushed her away and looked into eyes, I grabbed her by the hand and led her upstairs to my room. As soon as we stepped in Tobin closed the door and pinned me against it. Her hands were on either side of my head, she leaned in again, the kiss was filled with lust, I wanted her. I wanted her so bad.

  
"Tobin.." I managed to get out when she started working on my neck again, but then she hit the spot on my neck just below my ear and just under my jaw. I felt weak.

  
"Tobin..." I repeated and she stopped and looked at my, we were both breathing heavily.

  
"I want you." I told her.

  
"Then take me." She told me with darkened eyes.

 

*******

 

 

_**Thursday.** _

 

  
"YOU HOOKED UP WITH TOBIN." Kelley yelled in the cafeteria and I quickly covered her mouth.

  
"Any louder, I don't think the next state heard you." I said as I shot her a glare, she just sat opposite me with a smirk on her face.

  
"Yes, I did and now all day she's been avoiding me like the plague. Do you think she didn't like it?" I questioned seriously.

  
Kelley was about to respond but the stopped and was looking at something behind me, I turned and felt my heart fall.

There Tobin stood making out with some random blonde girl in the cafeteria.

  
"Chris.." Kelley started but I was already leaving, I had to get put of there.

How could I be so stupid? She used me.

It was only week one of the project....

It was now my turn to avoid Tobin like the plague. That plan seemed to work fine until we had psychology. Of course Tobin rolled in late and was wearing her typical smirk. I scoffed when she sat next to me.

"Hey." She offered as she got her notepad out of her bag.

  
"Don't even bother." I returned, I didn't look at her, I just kept my eyes forward focusing on Mrs Montgomery.

  
"I enjoyed last night." She continued, clearly unfazed by my sour attitude towards her.

  
"Leave me alone Tobin." I countered, once again not looking in her direction.

  
"Did I do something wrong?" She questioned, was she really that oblivious?

  
"You fucking used me. You fucked me and then avoided me like you don't even know me. That hurts Tobin, I gave you something that is sacred to me and you just threw it back in my face like it was nothing. You're a player and I can't believe I fell for your trap. I actually thought you cared about me. But obviously you don't. You know how important that step was for me and I took it with you and then you leave me looking like a fucking idiot. So congrats Tobin Heath, you got what you wanted, you got in my pants." I finished and neither of us spoke for the rest of the class.

 

  
*******

 

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

"She hates me. Well more than she did already." I let out as I once again was sat in the bleachers with Ashlyn.

  
"Doesn't make it more exciting though? Now you have to work for her. She hates you but will probably not forgot what you two did together, she'll be ready to jump back into bed with you whenever you want her too. You may not realise but you have her in the palm of your hand right now." Ash explained and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

  
"She's not some sort of slut Ash, she doesn't just jump into bed at any chance. Sex is important to her and I was her first, that's a big step for her. I took the chance that she gave me and then acted like a complete dick and now she won't speak to me and we still have a whole project to do together. So if you don't mind I'm done taking your advice because quite frankly just because this all worked with Ali doesn't mean it will with Christen." I argued, something that was rare for me and Ash.

  
"Are you calling my girlfriend easy?" Ashlyn's voice rose. We were squaring up now.

  
"Take what you want from that. I'm just saying that Ali fell for that whole act of being a dick and Christen won't. She's way smarter than that. She won't just jump into bed with anyone who gives her a bit of attention. She's way too smart for that." I returned, I didn't know why but I felt a certain need to defend Christen.

  
"You know nothing about Ali or our relationship. I love Ali. You wouldn't know what love was if it slapped you in the face. You don't know how to love. You're impossible to love. At least I have someone who cares deeply about me. Now you have nobody." She said and pushed into my shoulder as she walked past me to leave.

  
_Do I really not know how to love?_

 

  
*******

 

 

"I'm glad I've known you long enough to know that you would still be here right now." I heard from behind me, I then saw Kelley come and sit next to me.

  
"Ash told me what happened. I think you need to talk to her and explain why said what you said." Kelley tried to reason, I just shook my head.

  
"I said nothing wrong, I'm done taking her advice, what worked with Ali won't work with Christen. They're two different people and anyway Christen wants nothing to do with me anymore." I explained, I didn't turn to face Kelley once, I just kept my eyes focusing on the field below me.

  
"What you did was shitty. You took her virginity and then she saw you making out with some random girl in the cafeteria the next day. She thought you cared about her. I thought you cared about her." Kelley explained.

  
"I'm sorry that she feels that way but did she really think I would stop being who I am? I enjoyed what I did with her and I understand that what I did today was shitty but I'm not about to be committed to her. I don't do relationships." I reminded Kelley and she sighed.

  
"When will you realise that relationships aren't as scary as you make them out to be. You can't live your whole life going through girl after girl, hook up after hook up. You won't be happy. I'm not telling you to date Christen because if you don't feel that way about her then you can't force yourself too. But you are nearly at the end of high school and you need to start thinking about your future and what you want in life. Besides playing soccer, because that won't be there forever. It's okay to be scared. Talk to her but remember, sometimes giving someone a second chance is like giving them an extra bullet for their gun. Don't use the second chance you might get as an extra bullet. Don't hurt her more you already have, whether you realise it or not, you've hurt her." Kelley finished and left me all alone.

 

 _Can I come to your house on Monday, I need to explain_.

 

I sent the text to Christen, put my phone in my pocket and started making my way to my car to go home.

 

  
*******

 

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

 

I read the text over before replying with a quick _yes,_ I wanted to hear her out. Even if it did make me want to kill her, I had to give her chance to explain.

I was midway through my math homework when I heard a loud shriek coming from the living room. I made my way through the house and walked in on my mother trying to soothe the baby.

"I see you've finally met Grace. She's my psychology project. All about teen parenting or whatever." I briefly explained.

  
"Who's your partner?" She questioned as she finally managed to get Grace to be quiet.

  
"Tobin. Tobin Heath." I told her simply, she looked at me and handed Grace to me before leaving to the kitchen. I followed her.

  
"Is he nice? Is he trying in this project? You should invite him for dinner." My mom bombarded me.

  
"First off, my partner is a girl and  I don't think that will be necessary. She can be nice, sometimes, and she is somewhat trying in this project. It's probably for the best if she doesn't come here, it won't go well." I tried to explain but immediately knew my mother would get the wrong end of the stick.

  
"Do you like her? I don't mind if you do. I just want you to be happy." She finished before heading to the living room with the glass of water she had just got for herself.

 

_Do I like Tobin? Is that why I was so hurt when I saw her with that girl?_

 

_No, that's crazy._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More characters will be introduced in the next chapter.  
> More Ali and Ash and Hope and Kelley coming soon!  
> Comment your favorite part!


	3. Week Two: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope opens up.  
> Tobin and Chirsten talk.  
> Ali and Ash are introduced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!

**Week Two.**

 

**_Monday._ **

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

  
"But what if I'm scared of what I feel? What if she doesn't feel the same way?" Hope asked as she sat with me and Whitney before practice. We were the first three there.

  
"Kelley likes you, trust me. You're scared of what you feel because you've probably never felt this way before. It's okay to be scared but you need to talk to Kelley and try to explain how you're feeling, as best as you can." I reasoned and Whitney nodded in agreement.

  
"Kelley knows you well enough to know that words may not always come easy to you and she'll understand that it's hard for you to talk about your feelings. You make her happy and I know she makes you happy, you can see it in your eyes when you're with her. And yeah that is scary but you have to take that leap and let yourself feel what your heart wants to feel, Kelley may be patient but she won't wait around forever." Whitney explained, Hope didn't have time to reply as the rest of the team arrived and we were told to begin warm ups.

 

Training was brutal, everyone could feel the tension between Ash and I and it was throwing me off my game. I was missing shots that I would normally bury and losing the ball easily. Coach didn't look impressed.

 

"Everybody come in. There is a game tomorrow night and as you all know we are playing North High. It will be a tough game so everybody needs to be focused and at the top of their game. The game is at home so at least we have home field advantage on our side. Here's how we will line up. I have based this decision on what I saw last week and today." Coach Ellis explained before placing the team sheet on the bench behind her and walking away.

 

I was last to walk up to read the team sheet. It read:  
**GK**  SOLO  
**DEF** O'HARA  
**DEF** JOHNSTON  
**DEF** SAUERBRUNN  
**DEF**  KRIEGER  
**MID** HORAN  
**MID** BRIAN  
**FOR** DUNN  
**MID** LLOYD  
**FOR** LEROUX  
**FOR** MORGAN

SUBS:  
**GK** HARRIS  
**GK** NAEHER  
**DEF** KLINGENBERG  
**DEF** SONNETT  
**DEF** ENGEN  
**MID** MEWIS  
**MID** LONG

I didn't get picked. I wasn't even a sub, this had to be a mistake. I made my way over to talk to coach.

  
"Uh, coach did you forget to put me on the subs list?" I asked, trying not to show any sign of irritation.

  
"No. What I saw today didn't show me that you were good enough to be put in against North High. Sorry Tobin, maybe next week." Coach Ellis explained.

  
"But North High is the best team in the state, all the top colleges will be looking at that game to recruit. Signing on is soon. UNC need to see me a few more times before they make me an offer. You can't just not pick me. I need them to see me play." I explained, hoping she would understand.

She just shrugged in response.

  
"And I needed you to perform well in practice but you didn't manage that. How could I be sure that you would perform well against the best team in the state if you couldn't compete with your own team in practice?" She finished then left.

By this time all the other members of the team had left, but I noticed someone sat in the bleachers.

  
"That was brutal." Christen stated simply once I got the bench in front of tHe bleachers.

  
"What do you want?" I asked bluntly as I began to pack my things away into my backpack.

  
"You said you wanted to talk on Monday. It's Monday and I'm here to talk." She said as she got up from where she was sat and made her way down to the field.

  
"I told you I would come to your house and we would talk. I didn't tell you to come here." I reminded her.

  
"Well I'm here so we may as well just get this out of the way." She countered as she took the bottle of water that I was holding and took a drink from it.

  
"Look, I'm really not in the mood to do this right now. Can we talk another time?" I asked, hoping she would say yes.

  
"Well I am in the mood for this, so we're talking." She said forcefully as she sat on the bench that was behind us.

  
"Fine." I gave in and sat next to her. I took out a towel from my backpack and wiped the remaining sweat from my forehead and took my water bottle back from Christen's hand and finished it.

  
"Did you ever play?" I asked gesturing to the soccer ball that was placed near my feet.

  
"I did. For one year, I didn't touch the ball. I think I just made daisy chains and flower crowns. My mom always told me that I would just run along side wherever the ball was but never get near to it because people were kicking. After that I never went back to that team." She shared and I let out a small laugh.

  
"Stand up, I'll teach you." I told her, rising to my feet and dribbling with the ball a little.

  
"You're only doing this to avoid talking to me." She stated flatly, she was right but I wasn't going to tell her that.

  
"Fine, we'll talk whilst I teach you." I said before gently passing the ball in Christen's direction. She managed to stop it but when She tried to pass it back it just went in the complete wrong direction, nowhere near me.

  
"Try using the inside of your foot," I explained and passed the ball to her. This time she managed to get the ball back to me. "Now try passing it harder." I informed before passing her ball, this time with a little more effort. She stopped it and once again passed it back perfectly.

Once I had the ball at my feet I took off dribbling towards her and pushed the ball threw her legs before carrying on dribbling towards goal before taking a shot and placing it in the back of the net.

  
"I believe it is 1-0." I said before passing Christen the ball and she started dribbling towards me, once she approached me she took one step and did a cross over with her left foot and pushed the ball in the other direction with her right foot. A perfectly executed scissor move. She managed to trick me and was moving at full speed towards the goal once she was about 25 yards away she shot the ball and placed it perfectly just under the cross bar in the top left corner with her right foot.

  
"I just got played didn't I?" I questioned with a smile as I approached her, she was wearing a face eating grin and it suited her. She looked at peace.

  
"It's not fun to be played is it Heath? I started to play at a different team a few years after I quit the first one and have been playing club soccer ever since." She said with a serious tone in her voice. I deserved that.

  
"I know, I'm sorry Christen." I said, in all honesty I had no idea how to apologise. It wasn't something I did very often.

  
"Whitney is my team mate and my club. She's always telling me to join the varsity team but I never seem to have to time." She explained as she began to dribble towards me again.

  
"You're pretty good, that shot was perfect. You should join, our forwards need all the help they can get right now." I told her as I managed to tackle the ball off of her.

  
"I'm sure Alex and Syd wouldn't like to hear that." She said with a smile.

  
"I got recruited, they told me I should be training with boys to get stronger because I can look frail compared to my team mates because of my small frame. I train most days in season and about three nights a week in off season. Stanford approached me when they saw me playing a game against a boys team, they were impressed but said I needed to strengthen my back because it looks like I have a hunchback. Now all I have to do is just sign the forms." She finished and I was amazed, I didn't expect that. Stanford was a top school, she's good.

  
"Wait, how come you acted like you knew nothing about soccer when I was watching it the other night?" I asked, maybe trying to see if I could catch her out.

  
"As I said, being played isn't a nice feeling." She sat down on the field before continuing. "I honestly don't know much about the MLS, me and my dad prefer to watch The English Premier League or the Bundesliga because it's a higher standard of play and you can learn more from it." She explained and I sat next to her. I placed the ball in between us and stretched my legs out.   
"You really hurt me you know? I know that sex is like no big deal for you but I took a big step with you and it almost felt like you threw it back in my face. I just want to forget it happened so we can just get on with this project and then we never have to speak to each other again." Christen finished and my heart fell a little, I mean I didn't have feelings for her but I didn't want to forget about everything that we did and I really liked her company.

  
"Sure. Friends? For now anyway." I finished with a smirk before sticking my hand out.

  
"Friends.. For now." She replied before shaking my hand.

  
"I'll come by later and take Grace for the night, my club team doesn't have practice tonight. We should work out a schedule of who is going to have her on what night to easy the load on both of us." I explained and Christen seemed content with the idea.  
"I want to watch you play." I stated simply before standing.

  
"I have a game on Wednesday. I'll text you the address, but you can only come if you come and watch the game here tomorrow." She said before standing and beginning to leave the field.

  
"How did you know I wasn't already going?" I asked and she turned around to face me once again.

  
"You got dropped, you wouldn't turn up, you have too much pride. But now you will show up, with me, you get my company for a whole game and then in return you can watch me play on Wednesday." She informed before once again beginning to leave the field.

  
"I'll come at 7 and get Grace." I called after her, she didn't turn around but instead threw me a thumbs up as she was walking away.

 

  
*******

 

  
_Ali's P.O.V_

 

"You need to talk to Tobin, she's your best friend. Don't let that slip away over one small argument." I tried to reason as we sat outside my house on the porch, sharing a box of pizza and drinking Gatorade.

  
"Ali, she called you easy. I can't let that go." She returned a she took a sip form her blue drink.

  
"She didn't mean it, she just meant that Christen and I are different people and Ash as much as I love you, the advice you gave her wasn't exactly brilliant. You both need to talk and explain what you meant." I, once again, tried to reason with her. I heard her sigh.

  
"Why are you siding with her? You're my girlfriend, you're meant to be on my side. I was defending you." Ash said as she placed her bottle on the porch.

  
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO DEFEND ME ALL THE TIME ASH. This isn't about me being your girlfriend or who's side I'm on. This is about you and and Tobin being too immature to realise that you were both wrong. I don't need you to constantly act like you have to fight my battles for me, I can fight my own battles." I finished and put the lid on the pizza box and stood up.

  
"I can't win can I? I try and defend my girlfriend and she's mad about it. I try and give my best friend some advice and she's mad about it. What more do I have to do? I was defending you because I love you and when somebody says something about you it hurts." Ash returned, now also standing.

  
"She wasn't calling me easy. She was just stating the obvious, me and Christen are two different people. I was already pretty much in love with you when you tried your luck with me, Christen doesn't feel that way about Tobin. I wasn't easy but it was different, we're two different sets of people and you can't draw comparisons between us. I love you, you know that.." I was about to carry on but Ashlyn interrupted me.

  
"Do I? Do I know that? Because it seems like I'm always in the wrong in this relationship. I defended you because I care about you. I feel like I constantly have to prove that I love you, it feels like me saying it doesn't mean anything to you. I'm always stuck looking for validation to make sure that you understand that I love you and I would do anything for you. If me defending you is wrong then I'll hold my hands up and say I was wrong, but I'm not sorry for protecting someone and defending someone that I love and care about." Ashlyn finished and I let out a long breath. I didn't know she felt like that. How could I know, we hardly talk anymore and when we do talk it always seems to end in an argument.

  
"I think we need a break, just some time to figure out if we both really want this. We have other things that we need to focus on and I feel it would be best for both of us to be alone for a while." Ashlyn finished and I was confused. That's not what I wanted, not at all. But was it really for the best?

  
"Fine." I replied shortly and she left, she left me alone on my front porch.

 

I didn't cry, but I also didn't feel relieved. Aren't you meant to do one of those things after a break up? We didn't label it as a break up but that was sure what it felt like. I didn't cry, I didn't want to cry. I just wanted Ashlyn.

 

  
*******

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

I was watching film that my coach had sent me of our opponents for Wednesday when I heard the door. I paused the video and made my way to the door.

  
"I'm here to pick up Grace." Tobin said simply, I moved to let her in and she made her way to the living room. I closed the door and followed her.

  
"She's sleeping right now." I explained before planting myself onto the couch.

  
"What you watching?" Tobin asked as she came and sat next to me with Grace in her arms, she looked like a natural.

  
"This is the team I'm playing on Wednesday, from this film they look pretty good." I explained gesturing to the screen.

  
We sat in silence for a minute and just watched the screen.

  
"You can attack them wide," Tobin started, looking at me then back at the screen.

  
"Their outside backs are on the attack a lot and don't have the pace to get back, their left back is weak defensively. If you steal the ball off them high up the field then you'll have them out of position." Tobin explained as we both continued to watch.

  
"Also both of them don't seem to recover well, they'll attack but then won't sprint to get back and defend, we can hurt them in the wide areas." I chipped in and Tobin hummed in agreement.

  
The film finished and another clip began to play, it was of one of the drills that we had done in training the previous week, Coach said that we would run that play from a set piece. It was a corner kick and I was positioned at the top of the box. The ball was played in and one of the players would head the ball out to me and I would strike it. In the video I struck it perfectly and it flew into the back of the net.

  
"Impressive play, you should join the school team and you and Whit can teach us that." Tobin said with a smirk as she looked at me.

  
"Not happening." I returned as I turned the TV off as the last clip had finished playing.

  
"I'm just saying, you'd be a great addition and it would be extra practice before you head off to Stanford." Tobin offered as she sat further back on the couch, she still managed to have Grace peacefully sleeping in her arms.

  
"Does it sound weird that sometimes I forget that she is a doll and not a real baby? I mean we've only had her for like five days but it feels so real, she's so realistic. So much like a real baby." I explained, hoping Tobin wouldn't think I was crazy.

  
"No I get what you mean. She seems real. But if this was real then that would mean that we would've had a kid together and I think we would probably end up killing each other. In fact I'm amazed we've lasted five days without killing each other." Tobin joked and we shared a laugh.

  
"Did you talk to Ash yet?" I asked cautiously.

  
"How do you know about that?" Tobin asked, turning to face me.

  
"Kelley and Whit both told me about it, apparently practice was especially full of tension." I explained as I placed a hand on her arm.

  
"It's okay to fight with friends, sometimes you have different opinions and people clash. I don't know what you were fighting about but I'm sure you'll sort it out." I said sincerely, now with my hand on her thigh.

Tobin moved Grace so that she was hooding her with one arm and moved her right hand to grab mine. She gave it a little squeeze but didn't let go.

  
"Thanks. We were actually kinda fighting about you..well you and Ali." Tobin explained. They fought about me? Why? I let go of her hand.

  
"Why? Why would you possibly fight about me?" I asked in surprise.

  
"Do you really want to know?" Tobin asked with a sigh.

  
"Not really, but tell me anyway." I let out a long breath and waited for Tobin to explain.

  
"She was essentially giving me advice on how to get into your pants and then after we, you know, did it I told her about how you pretty much hated me and then she said that it made it more exciting and told her that just because being dick helped her get Ali it wouldn't work for you because you're way smarter than that. Anyway, she took that as me calling Ali easy but I wasn't I was just explaining how you and her are different people and how the circumstance are different because her and Ali had feelings for each other and you and I don't. She wouldn't listen to me and I wouldn't listen to her. She told me that I was impossible to love and then left." Tobin explained, she looked at the ground the whole time. Didn't we have feelings for each other?

  
"I don't know what to say." I replied honestly.

  
"Then Kelley found me and told me I couldn't carry on with hook up after hook up and that relationships really aren't that scary. She also told me what I did to you was shitty and that she thought I cared about you. I do care about you, I just don't do commitment. I'm not going to change that." Tobin finished.

  
"You'll never change that, will you?" I asked and it came out a lot harsher than I intended it too.  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Tobin asked flatly.

  
"It just seems like you will never change your ways, no matter how many people you hurt." I argued.

  
"What I do doesn't hurt people. It's not my fault people might have feelings for me or are hurt by my actions. Why should I change because one person got the wrong idea." Tobin offered as she placed Grace in the make shift crib in the corner of the room.

  
"Are you trying to say that I got the wrong idea? I'm sorry for thinking I was special. Was the treatment you gave me the Tobin Heath treatment of make the girl feel like you actually care then fuck and dump her? That really hurts and you'll never understand how much that hurts. You push everyone away and seem to hurt everyone around you. Ash was trying to help you and pushed her away and had a fight and now she wants nothing to do with you and you're all alone. I hope you feel as shit as you make everyone else around you feel." I finished and was surprised at myself. But I couldn't take any of it back.

  
"I don't mean to hurt people. A simple hook up is easy for me. It's all I know how to do. Everyone in my life seems to be in relationships and happy and I'm not in one and hook ups are all I have, I get to feel what all my friends feel, even if it is only for a short while. I 'fuck and dump' girls because I don't know how to deal with commitment or with getting attached, I'm terrified to have feelings for someone because I don't know how to deal with them. All my friends come to me for advice and I give it to them but when it comes to me I..I have no idea how to deal with them or how to know if I feel something for someone. I just want you to know that I do care about you and I actually really enjoy your company and that terrifies me because for the past four years I've spent all my time thinking I hate you but now I'm not so sure I did ever actually feel that way and it's messing with my fucking head. You're messing with my head. I just want to get this project over with but...but I can't stop thinking about you. But then when I look back I don't think I've ever really been able to stop thinking about you, even when I thought I hated you. I don't know what to do, I don't even know how I feel or how I'm meant to feel." She finished with a soft voice. Tobin had tears in her eyes. Tobin Heath was crying...over me.

  
"I don't think I've ever hated or disliked you. I only said I did because everyone thought I did. I was always intrigued by you and always hoping to cross paths with you. Your reputation is shocking and that made me have doubts but I was always attracted to you and I'm not scared to admit that. That night that I hooked up with you, you made me feel so special and that I was the only girl in the world and I wanted to feel that all the time but then when I saw you the next day with that girl it hurt. It really fucking hurt because I realised that it was everything to me but it was nothing to you, it was just another hook up. You think I'm messing with your head? You should see what you're doing to mine, I feel so comfortable around you and that's normally hard for me, everything feels natural, every single fucking thing makes me feel like I'm on fire but yet I feel so confident around you, I just always want to be in your company." I spilled and Tobin didn't say anything, she just went and sat down. I went and sat next to her but not too close.

  
"Let me take you on a date. This Saturday night, if you're free." Tobin offered looking at me with hopeful eyes.

  
"I'd really like that." I said and I couldn't even hide the smile that was forcing it's way onto my face.

  
"I should probably go, I'll see you tomorrow night, the game starts at 7:30 so I can pick you up at 7 if you want." Tobin said before standing and making her way to Grace.

  
"Yeah, that'll be great." I said, also making my way over to where Grace was.

  
"I'm sorry for..well having a go at you." Tobin apologised, turning to face me. She placed a quick kiss on my cheek before picking Grace up and also the bag full of everything she would need for the night. I walked Tobin to the door.

  
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I said as Tobin stood outside my door and I stood inside my house.

  
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrw." She said before turning to leave.

  
"Oh, Press, one more thing." I heard Tobin call out, I stood just outside my door and was facing Tobin.

  
"What?" I asked curiously and Tobin stood in front of me nervously. She quickly steped forward and placed a quick kiss on my lips, I smiled as we pulled away, I then looked down at the ground then back up to Tobin before leaning in again.

  
"We really shouldn't do that in front of Grace." Tobin joked and I shoved her lightly in the shoulder.

  
"I'll see you tomorrow." Tobin said smiling before turning and this time actually managing to leave.

 

  
I wasn't back inside long when I heard the front door go and heard both of my parents enter the house.

 

 

  
*******

 

**_Tuesday._ **

  
_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

I woke up feeling refreshed because Grace had managed to sleep through the entire night, apart from one waking to be fed and changed but that was only a 20 minute job. I was excited for the day, it was weird I was never really excited for school but I wasn't technically excited for school, I was more happy because I got to go to the game with Christen and even though I was still angry that I wasn't picked to play, the fact that she was going to be there with me softened the blow.

  
"Someone looks happy today." I heard from my mom as soon as I entered the kitchen.

  
"Am I not allowed to be happy?" I questioned with a smile before passing Grace over to her.

  
"Are you sure it's okay for you to watch her today?" I asked confirming our agreement.

  
"Yes Tobin, it's fine, no need to stress. Are you sure you want to go to the game. It might be a hard watch, especially since they are the best team in the state." My mom offered as I began to eat the bagel that she had prepared for me.

  
"No, I think I'm going to go. I'm going with a friend and plus it'll be nice to watch my team from a spectators view for a change." I said and I saw my mom raise her eyebrows.

  
"What?" I asked when I saw the smirk on her face.

  
"A 'friend' huh?" She teased.  
"Yes, just a friend..well sort of, I'm not really sure what it is. I would like her to be a friend, maybe more but then I don't know if she wants that..." I was cut off by my mom laughing.

  
"You were rambling. You like her. Don't worry I'm happy for you, as long as you're happy I'm happy." My mom assured me and I smiled.

  
"She's my partner on this project." I said gesturing to Grace.

  
"What is she like?" My mom questioned.

  
"She's funny, really smart, honest, sometimes brutally honest and she is amazing at soccer. She got recruited by Stanford. But she's beautiful, she has the most amazing eyes and her smile..I wish I could make her smile all day because it's so beautiful and it suits her so well. She's pretty perfect." I finished and looked over at my mom who was smiling widely.

  
"I would say you're smitten. Now go to school, Grace will be fine." She said and kissed my forehead before pretty much pushing me out of the door.

 

I had a feeling that today was going to be a good day.

 

My first class of the day was English and for a change I was actually on time, I took my seat and waited for Ash to arrive.  
"Hey." I said as she sat down. She blanked me.

  
"Look, I'm sorry, I was out of order, I don't know what came over me I just felt this need to defend Christen. I went to her house and we're going on a date on Saturday. She said yes, I couldn't believe it..." I trailed off when I realised Ash was just staring blankly at me.

  
"I think Ali and I broke up. We said that we're on a break but I think we broke up. We had a fight about you and what I said and what you said. She seemed pretty mad. I'm so sorry Tobin I just wanted to defend her. Can we please just put it behind us?" Ash asked sadly.

  
"I'm sorry dude, just give her a little time. She'll come around, don't force her to talk but don't not talk to her, you two are practically made for each other. Sometimes things just need a little time to smooth over." I tried to reason with Ash and let out a small smile.

  
"You got a date? I'm so happy for you dude. I'm proud of you." Ash congratulated me.

  
"Honestly I'm proud of me too but I'm fucking terrified. I think I like her." I explained, voicing my feelings.

  
"Then like her and see where it goes. Allow yourself to feel what you need and want to feel." Ash told me and I smiles, silently thanking my best friend.

 

 

  
*******

 

 

The day flowed pretty smoothly and it was time to go and get Christen and go to the match. I was growing anxious, simply because of the fact that I may miss out on being recruited and I wouldn't have many more chances to be seen but also because I was about to go pick up Christen fucking Press. That shouldn't make me nervous but this was almost like a trial date for Saturday. I knocked on the door and took a deep breath.

 

"Ready?" I asked, holding my hand out for Christen to take. She gladly took it and stepped out of her house, shutting the door behind her.

  
"Ready." She said as we began to make our way to my car. Once we got there I opened the passenger door for her she smiled and got into my car, I walked round and got into the drivers side. For the whole journey to the school she held onto my hand, it felt so natural, so real. I wanted every car journey to feel this way. Sadly it was only a short journey and we arrived at the school and both climbed out of the car.

  
"They'll be fine." Christen reassured me, obviously sensing my nervousness.

  
"I know but..what if I miss recruiting? Signing on is soon and I haven't had any offers." I vented, trying not to sound like a broken record.

  
"Tobin, you'll get recruited. Any school would be stupid to miss up the chance to have you represent them. You're Tobin Heath, you'll probably win a world cup one day. You'll be fine and your team will be fine. Now lets go watch Greenwich High kick some North High ass." Christen finished before grabbing my hand and leading me to the bleachers.

I got some weird looks from people as we passed, I think people were just surprised to see with someone, I like it, they could stare all they wanted. I had a beautiful girl with me and I certainly wasn't complaining.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment your favorite part!  
> More characters introduced soon!  
> Chapter 4 should be up tomorrow. I have up to chapter six written and I'm currently working on the next few so hopefully updates should be daily or every other day.


	4. Week Two: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin watches the game with Christen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!  
> Not so sure about this chapter, let me know what you think.

  
**_Tuesday cont._ **

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

The first half was a hard watch. North High were clearly the more dominate side, they were stronger, faster and more aggressive then Greenwich. I could tell Tobin was getting frustrated because she couldn't sit still and kept fidgeting and grabbing onto my arm whenever North High got a break away, I could tell she wanted to be out there and sitting and spectating was slowly killing her. But the back line and Hope held strong, they managed to break up any North High play that looked dangerous and Hope saved any shot that got through. The midfield for Greenwich wasn't connecting with the forwards, I knew Tobin was important to this team but was she really the connecting piece that they so desperately needed in this game?

The whistle for the end of the first half blew and the two teams left the field and headed towards the locker rooms, many people around us headed to go grab food or drink.

  
"That was a nightmare, we're not closing down, not connecting simple passes and not being clinical enough." She was right, they were doing some things wrong but they were still in the game. It was tied 0-0 and as long as it stayed that way, they still had a chance.

  
"But the defence is good, the backline is looking strong, all that needs to change is the connection between the midfield and forwards." I critiqued, Tobin hummed in agreement.

  
"I can see the recruits," she began before turning to point at a man that was stood on the other side of the field. "He is the recruiter from UNC, Anson Dorrance trusts him with his life, I need him to see to me play otherwise I'll never get a scholarship there." She explained before letting out a long sigh.

  
"I hate to sound harsh, but there are other schools. You need to be more openminded, you might get recruited by a school and end up loving it, not getting recruited by UNC doesn't mean you aren't good enough to play division 1 soccer, it just means that you and UNC aren't a perfect fit. But that doesn't mean you're perfect fit isn't out there." I tried to be as sincere as possible towards her, I knew this was hard on her. This was her dream, UNC was her dream and she is so close to getting it but also so close to not getting it.

  
"Ever since I was 14 I've been telling people that I would go to UNC, I would tell my teammates every practice; I think I drove my parents insane with the amount of times I told them that I would play there. This was meant to be the season that it all feel into place, I knew they were watching me, they watched me all last season and wanted to see how I did in my senior year and so far..well I haven't been great, I haven't been playing to the standard that a UNC player should be playing at and I think my chance is slipping away. I just don't want to let anyone down." Tobin explained with her head down, I grabbed her hand which made her look at me.

  
"You aren't going to let anyone down. Your teammates will support you no matter what and so will your family, if UNC can't see your quality then maybe you need to think about other colleges, I'm sure any D1 school in the country would be happy to take you on. You're destined for greatness, don't let this one bump in the road define you, there are other schools Tobin." I explained but none of it seemed to go in.

  
"That's easy for you to say, you already got recruited. Most of the team already got recruited, I'm one of the last ones left. Don't act like you know how this feels, you got recruited early on and Stanford made you an offer immediately. You don't know how I feel right now, you don't get it." Tobin said, she pulled her hand from mine and faced forwards with an icy look in her eye.

  
"You're right I don't get it, I was just trying to be supportive. You have too much pride for your own good. I try and help you and say things that might cheer you up and what do you do? Throw it back in my face. I might not get what you're feeling but at least I'm trying. And who's really to blame here? If you hadn't had that stupid argument with Ash you would be on that pitch and would be able to show that guy how good you are. But yet here you are in the stands because of you. Nobody else caused this. You caused this." I returned, also now just looking at the field. How could she be so ungreatful? You try and help but she won't listen, you try and be supportive and she shuts you out. What more can you do?

  
"I didn't need you to give me a life lesson. I wasn't asking for your sympathy. You don't get it, you have the perfect life and everything goes your way, you don't know what its like to have something that you care about so much be so close and then pretty much ripped out of your hands. You just don't understand." She countered with a bitter tone in her voice.

  
"You know nothing about me or my life. I can't believe this. I think its best if I went home." I said before standing and making my way down the bleachers and heading towards the parking lot.

 

Once I got there I remembered that Tobin had driven me there so I could either call my mom or dad and get them to pick me up and have to explain what happened or wait for Kelley and have to explain what happened.

 

"I figured you'd be here. I saw the little argument with Heath." I heard from behind me and I let out a small breath. I turned around to see who had joined me in the parking lot. "I take it you got driven here and don't have a way home, I can take you if you'd like." She offered and at this moment in time it was the best offer I had.

  
"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks Vero." I thanked her and followed her to her car.

  
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked as we left the school parking lot.

  
"Tobin Heath is fucking with my mind. I tried to give her some advice and she threw it back in my face, I thought she would open up to me and would be receptive to my support and sympathy but..." I started but was cut off by Vero.

  
"But..it's Tobin Heath and she doesn't understand how human relationships work." Vero slated and I hummed in slight agreement.

  
"I invited her to our club game tomorrow and she asked me on a date for Saturday but I can't see either of those things happening now." I explained as we stopped at a red light.

  
"She asked you on a date? Man you must be giving her great sex." Vero said seriously.

  
"Yeah..well only once but I mean it was pretty great, well I thought..." I started but stopped when I heard Vero laughing. I looked at her.

  
"I don't need the details." Vero said as she began to drive on because the light changed to green.

  
"Actually instead of going to my house can we go and get food. I didn't have dinner and I'm starving." I said, pointing to a McDonalds on the side of the road, Vero didn't answer instead she just pulled into the drive through.

 

We order food and sat in the parking lot and began to eat.

  
"We really shouldn't be eating this the night before a game." Vero reminded me.

  
"What coach doesn't know won't hurt him." I returned and we shared a small laugh. Vero was about to reply but my hone went off, it was Tobin calling.

  
"I'll be back in a sec." I said before climbing out of the car and accepting the call.

  
"Where are you? I got to the parking lot and saw you weren't there, I was going to offer to drive you home. Are you home?" Tobin ranted frantically.

  
"Vero gave me a lift, we are currently in a McDonalds parking lot eating, I'm fine, go and watch the game." I finished shortly, honestly, I didn't really want to to talk to her right now.

  
"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. I'm sorry for flipping out and acting how I did. You're right I don't really know anything about you or your life, but I want too, I really want too. I'm really sorry Chris, I guess I'm just scared that nobody will want me to play for them and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I guess I'll leave you to eat and I'll see you period four tomorrow." Tobin finished and hung up before I even had chance to say anything.

  
"I'm not saying this to be nasty or to stir shit but I think she's fucking with you. She keeps making you upset the back tracking and that cycle keeps repeating itself and it's all because Tobin only wants one thing." Vero finished before pointing at my crotch, I swatted her hand away and sighed.

  
"No she's not. She cares about me." I returned feeling slightly angered that my friend would doubt Tobin like that.

  
"Chris, this is Tobin we're talking about, she doesn't do commitment or relationships. She's only ever in something because it will help her to get laid. Since you slept with her how many girls has she been?" She questioned making me think.

  
"None..she said she had feelings for me. She wouldn't do that to me. She's not like that." I argued and Vero must looked set me and sighed.

  
"I'm just trying to help you." She finished before pulling out of the parking lot.

 

  
*******

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

Why do I do this? I like someone, actually like someone then and then screw it up. Christen probably won't even want to go on a date with me now and it's all my fault and why was she with Vero. I don't even know who Vero is. I bet she's trying to get into her head and persuade her to not go on a date with me. My palms were sweating and head felt like it was a spin, why do I feel this way. Am I jelaous? The game finished 2-1 to us. I was relieved to say the least but I needed to sort things out, I need to sort my head out.

 

Yes. I am. I'm jealous because this Vero girl is with Christen right now and I'm not. Shit. I think I'm in deeper than I thought I was.

 

I needed to clear my head and there was only one way that I knew how to do that. I pulled my phone out of my pockets and went to my contact.

 

"Hi Toby, your place or mine?" She asked, already knowing what I wanted.

  
"Yours. I'll be there in twenty minutes." I told Hannah before getting into my car and heading to her house.

 

"Well, I didn't expect to be seeing you for a while." Hannah said as I walked into her house, her parents both worked late during the week so I knew it would he easy to do this here.

  
"I didn't really expect to be seeing you for a while either." I returned honestly.

  
"I thought you'd be with that girl you seem to be hooked on, what's her name? Christine is it?" She asked, she knew her name, I knew that.

  
"It's Christen. Can we just get this over with please." I said as I removed my jacket and walked towards her.

  
"Whatever you say." She said before grabbing my hand and leading me upstairs to her bedroom.

  
Once we got into the room, Hannah began to kiss the underside of my jaw and leave kisses all lone my neck, she went to pull my t-shirt over my head but I immediately stopped.

  
I can't do this." I said as I stepped back from her.

  
"I have to go." I said before rushing out of her room and her house, only stopping to collect my jacket. I jumped in my car and set out on the road. It was 10pm, was it too late to go there? Would her parents be home?

 

I had to see her.

 

  
*******

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

I pulled into the driveway of Christen's house at 10:23 pm and the only car that was there that I recognised was hers so I presumed both her parents were still at work. It was raining heavily so I jogged up to the door and knocked three times, I saw a shadow move in the living room and make its way towards the door. Christen opened the door and let out a frustrated breath when she saw me.

 

"I know it's late but I needed to see you." I informed her, she was about to let me in but then stopped.

  
"But I can see you already stopped to see someone else first." She said as she looked at my neck. Fucking Hannah.

  
"I can explain..please just let me in Christen." I pleaded, she sighed, looked at the rain and stepped aside to let me, she closed the door after I was inside her house. She led me to the kitchen and we sat at the dining table that was situated in the middle of the large room.

  
"After the game I was angry, not at you, but angry at myself. I needed to clear my head and in the past there has only been two ways for me to do that and one of them was to play soccer but I didn't want to do that and the other was to hook up with someone. Hannah and I have done the whole no strings attached deal for a while so I went round to see her, but I couldn't go through with it.. I couldn't go through with it because all I could think about was how it would affect you, how much it would make you hate me or how upset you would be. But I was so angry and I was jealous because when I called you were with that girl and I wanted to be there with you. I'm sorry, this probably sounds fucked up but I had to see you, I had to tell you that I was sorry for the way that I acted and that I really like you and I want to try this whole dating thing with you. If that's what you want." I explained and I think Christen was slightly taken back. She just sat there for a while, it was like she was contemplating everything and weighing up the pros and cons.

  
"Was that speech supposed to make me less angry? Was that meant to make me want to jump into bed with you? You and I had a fight and you went and tried to hook up with another girl. Is that fact that you couldn't go through with it supposed to flatter me? You had no right to be jelaous, Vero and I are just friends. If we did try the whole relationship things how do i know that if we ever got into a fight you wouldn't must run off and fuck some random girl?" She questioned angrily and honestly, I deserved it.

  
"I know I make a lot of mistakes and I say the wrong things all the time, but please believe me when I saw that I like you. I've never felt this way about anyone before and I know I almost hooked up with someone and that is a shitty thing to do but i stopped myself because if I'm being honest, since I was with you in that way, I haven't even thought about that with anyone else and to you that may sound like empty words but trust me, I mean it. I care about you, I care about you so much and that terrifies me because I don't how relationships work, but I do know that I will try for you and I will do anything to make you happy. I want to get to know everything thing about you, even if you think it doesn't matter, I want to watch you play and I want to be there when your club team wins or when they lose and when you're pissed and I'll tell you that you're really cute when you're angry and you'll smile because I know you love to do that. I don't know much about feelings or relationships but please just let me try; I think I might be falling for you Chris." I finished snd wiped a tear off of my cheek, I don't really know what just happened, I didn't mean to spill everything like that and open up like that and that vulnerable but I feel okay to do that around Christen because she makes me feel safe. She makes me happy and that is terrifying because I don't even really know her.

 

 

  
_Christen's P.O.V_

 

 

  
"I want to try with you as well. But you need to earn my trust. This won't be easy but we'll figure it out together, sure you're not perfect and neither am I but that's okay because you make me feel like I am perfect and you make me feel safe. You have opened up to me in the past few days more than I think you've probably ever opened up to anyone and I can't wait to know everything about you and for you to know everything about me. You terrify me Tobin Heath but you also excite me." I finished, and Tobin stood up snd walked over to where I was at, I just wrapped my arms around her waist and I felt her kiss me on the top of my head.

  
"I should go, my mom will probably freak out if I'm not home soon." Tobin informed me as she leant back slightly so she could look at me.

  
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." I told her as I stood up and planted a kiss on her lips.

  
"How about I come and pick you up in the morning and drive you to school?" Tobin asked as she chewed nervously on her bottom lip.

  
"Yeah, I'd really like that." I said as I opened the door for her, she stepped out of my house and took my hand in hers and placed a quick kiss on my hand before leaving. I closed the door and made my way up to my room.

 

Shit. I've got it bad.

 

 

*******

 

 

**_Wednesday_ **

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

I woke up and 7:17am on Wednesday morning and just about managed to get ready and drag myself down to the kitchen for breakfast.

When I arrived in the kitchen I saw a note on the table, I picked it up, it read,  
_Your Dad and I had to rush into hospital this morning, there are pancakes ready on the table. Love you, Mom._

 _  
_ I sighed and placed the note back on the table and looked over and saw the pancakes further down the dining table. I was about to make my way over when I heard someone knock on the door.

 

"Morning." Tobin said with a smile, I noticed she had a cup in each hand.

  
"Morning." I replied, she stretched her left hand out and passed me a cup.

  
"I didn't know how you had your coffee so I just got the same as mine, one sugar and a pump of vanilla cream." She informed me as I took the coffee from her hand.

  
"That's great thanks." I replied shortly and made my way into the kitchen to eat my pancakes.

  
"Are you alright? You don't seem your normal self this morning." Tobin asked as she followed me into the kitchen and sat opposite me at the table.

  
"I'm just not a morning person." I told her, it wasn't a lie I did hate mornings but that wasn't the only thing on my mind today.

  
"How come you're here so early anyway? I thought you never got to school on time." I asked and I took a drink from my coffee.

  
"Yeah, but you're always on time and plus, I need to be punctual and keep my grades up if I want to be offered a scholarship." She informed me, I finished my pancakes and placed my plate in the sink. I picked my bag up from the living room and made my way to the door, Tobin followed closely behind me.

  
"My mom said she can have Grace again today and tonight if you want, since you'll probably be tired after your game." Tobin told me and I smiled before getting into her Jeep.

  
"Are you sure something isn't bothering you?" Tobin asked as she fastened her seatbelt.

  
"How often do your parents watch you play?" I asked as Tobin put the car in reverse and made her way out of my driveway.

  
"They come to every game. Why?" She asked as she turned into the drive, she looked quickly across at me and then back at the road.

  
"My parents haven't seen me play since I was 12. They're always working at the hospital. I feel like I'm being selfish but I just wish I could see them more, I'm happy that they're helping people everyday but I go to college soon and I haven't even been to look around the Stanford campus because they're always too busy working. They came home at like 2am and left before I even got up, I barely see them and when I do it's only for a few hours. I just feel so alone." I finished, I felt Tobin grab my hand as we pulled up to a red light.

  
"Your parents love you Chris. I wish I could understand how you feel but just know that you aren't alone okay, you have Kelley, Whit, that Vero girl and all your other teammates around you that are like your second family and you have me. I'll make sure you never feel alone, you have my whole team there for you. You're not alone Chris, maybe you should try talking to your parents and telling them how you feel, they're doing good for other people but maybe not for you." Tobin finished and pulled into the school parking lot.

We were met with weird looks as we got out of her car, Tobin made her way round to me and put her arm around my waist and pulled me closer to her, she planted a kiss on the side of my head before pulling away.

  
"I need to go and find Ash and ask her how the whole Ali situation is, I hate to see Ash hurt." Tobin rambled and I nodded, she smiled before quickly walking off to find Ash.

 

 

*******

 

 

_Ashlyn's P.O.V_

I was making my way to my locker when I felt someone tap my shoulder, I turned around and saw Tobin stood there, we continued to walk to my locker.

  
"How are you?" She asked as I opened my locker.

  
"Honestly. I feel like shit, I'm trying to give her space but it's not working. Yesterday after the game I tried talking to her to tell her she did great but she just blanked me. I don't know what I did wrong, I was just trying to defend her and she was so mad. I love her so much but it feels like she doesn't believe me or that I have to try to prove it." I finished, I grabbed my Biology textbook out of my locker and shut it.

  
"She loves you, everybody can see that. I know this is hard for you but she'll come around." Tobin finished, she gave me a pat on the shoulder before the bell rang and we headed our separate ways.

 

I got to the Biology lab and took a deep breath, Ali was in this class. 'Keep it together Harris.' I repeated in my mind before heading into the lab.

  
"Hey." I said as I placed my textbook on the desk and sat next to her.

  
No reply.

  
"Are you alright?" I asked, she just continued to look ahead and Mr Hernandez who was our teacher.

  
"Okay class today we are doing partner work, you are to work with who you are sat with. I want you to produce a report on the functions of the skeletal system in the human body. You must include: it's three main fucntions, what helps it to do what it does and how we can improve the strength of it. You have the whole hour. Begin." He informed the class and everyone got to work.

Great. I have to work with someone who won't even look in my direction.

  
"So...the skeletal system." I said and Ali sighed.

Still no reply.

  
"Look, you are going to have to work with me on this. I know for some reason you don't want to talk to me, but we have to do this together." I said now frustrated, she grabbed a notebook and pen out of her bag and looked at me.  
"Fine. Lets get this over with." She huffed out.

  
"What have I done that has made you this angry with me because as far as I can remember I haven't done anything wrong, well not to my knowledge anyway." I spoke as I looked her and took in her features, she looked tired, exhausted actually, like she had hardly slept.

  
"Can we not talk about this here? Lets just do this stupid report." Ali replied shortly before proceeding to start writing.

  
"We need to talk at some point." I informed her and she sighed.

  
"Fine, meet me at the soccer locker rooms at lunch. We'll talk then." Ali decided and I nodded.

 

 

*******

 

 

  
Biology was tough, and it was now lunch time which meant it was time for me to go and talk to Ali.

  
When I arrived at the locker rooms I took a deep breath before opening the door and walking in, Ali was already sat in there. She was sat in front of her locker which was next to mine. I went and sat a few lockers down, to give her space.

  
"It's weird, we dated for two years and then two days ago we had a fight and I barely know what to say to you." Ali said with sadness laced throughout her voice.

  
"Why were you so angry at the fact that Tobin and I had an argument. All I did was defend you but yet you seemed so mad about that." I returned shyly looking over at her.

  
"I got offered a scholarship by Penn State. Full ride, they told me to think about it and give them a decision by the end of next week." Ali shared, she quickly glanced in my direction then averted her eyes back to the floor.

  
"How long have you known?" I asked.

  
"About two weeks." She answered shortly.

  
"You didn't tell me... Why didn't you tell me? That's great news." I moved up two lockers so now I was sat next to her.

  
"Because you got offered a scholarship to UNC and that isn't close to PSU. I wasn't sure if we could do the whole long distance thing. I let it bubble and eventually I just burst. Ash, I love you and I loved our relationship but I don't know if we could survive college being so far away from each other. I wasn't necessarily angry at you or what you did but I was angry at the fact that I knew we would be over soon. High school isn't going to last forever and we both have futures to think about." Ali explained, she looked me in the eyes for a brief moment.

  
"Well..I guess I was stupid for thinking that we could survive long distance." I said bluntly.

  
"I'm sorry." She said shakily.

  
"So that's it? We're done. We still have months left of senior year, months we could've spent together but you're ending it because you're scared of the future." I said, I felt a few stray tears begin to run down my cheeks.

  
Ali said nothing, we just sat in silence.

  
"I should be going class starts soon." Ali said before once again leaving me alone.

 

I must've sat there for a good thirty minutes before I heard the door open.

  
"What do you want?" I asked as I looked up at the person who had just walked in.

  
"I saw Krieger and she looked upset so I talked to her and she told me you and her were talking in here. I figured you'd still be here." Hope informed me as she came and sat in the same seat where Ali had sat a little while earlier.

  
"She has no right to be upset. She was the one who dumped me just then." I said angered slightly by what Hope had told me.

  
"She didn't tell me she got a scholarship to her dream school. She said she didn't know if we could survive a long distance relationship, so she ended it." I explained the situation to Hope who let out a breath before responding.

  
"Ash, she loves you. You two are practically made for each other, you've got to fight for her. Show her that you and her can survive the distance. All of us are nearly finished in this shit hole of a high school and soon we'll be dotted around the country, living our dreams. It'll be rough and we'll all need each other for support even if we can't all physically be together. You and Ali need each other. It's crazy that you have seemed to have found the perfect person for you at such a young age. Fight for her, prove that you two will be able to survive college." Hope spoke, I smiled after she finished. It was weird, Hope and I were never really friends but we always seemed to have this weird understanding of one another.

  
"You're right. Thanks Hope. But you really need to make a move with Kelley because it's obvious that you both like each other, stop being scared and just allow yourself to be happy. Because we can all see that Kelley makes you happy." I said and patted Hope on the thigh before getting up and leaving the locker room.

 

  
*******

 

  
_Christen's P.O.V_

 

Tobin had invited me to sit with her and soccer team at lunch so I could get to know more of them other than just her, Kelley and Whit. Usually I would sit with my friends from the other classes and Vero or Kelley but I felt like a change today.

  
"So Christen, I hear you're a bit of a baller yourself." Alex says to me as we begin to eat our food. She was sat opposite me with Kelley on one side and Ali on the other.

  
"Well I play for a local club." I spoke shyly.

  
"Press, you got recruited by Stanford. She's a great forward." Kelley boasted for me.

  
"So you and Kel will be attending college together?" Crystal asked from further down the table.

  
"Yeah." I responded simply and was happy to see Tobin and Ashlyn approach the table.

  
"Hey, I'm sorry if they were a little overbearing." Tobin said as she came and next to me.

Ash went and sat next to Becky who was sat next to Crystal and opposite Meghan.

  
"No, they were fine." I reassured her.

  
"So, is there a new romance we should know about." Emily asked as she looked at me and Tobin from down the table.

  
"Maybe soon." Tobin said with a smirk.

  
"I've got to go." Ali said before quickly jumping out of her seat and rushing out of the cafeteria. Ashlyn sighed from her seat as we all watched her leave.

  
"I see there's still trouble in paradise." Julie said in Ash's direction.

  
"I'll go see if she's okay." Ash said before standing.

  
"Ash, you two will be okay." Julie assured her.

  
The rest of the team began to file out of the cafeteria and head to class, soon only me, Tobin, Kelley and Hope were left.

  
"Well we should go so you two can have talk and catch up." Tobin said before standing up and leading me out of the cafeteria with her.

  
"What? They both have a free next and I'm just giving them the push they need." Tobin said when she saw me giving her a questioning look. I just laughed and grabbed her hand and made her walk me to my Math class.

 

 

*******

 

 

_Kelley's P.O.V_

"I should probably go to the library and do some homework." Hope said as soon as I was left alone with her.

  
"We need to talk about us." I told her bluntly.

  
"Okay...we'll talk." Hope gave in and moved a few seats closer to me.

  
"I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I don't have feelings for you, because I do. Hope, you're one of the sweetest people I have ever met and honestly one of the most frustrating. I wish you would talk to me about how you feel instead of closing yourself up and running away.." I began but I heard Hope take a deep breath besides me so I stopped and let her speak.

  
"I really like you Kelley. I'm not good at talking about how I feel and running away..well it's all I really know how to do." Hope finished, I leant over and grabbed her hand, she looked up and me and I spoke.

  
"Let me take you on a date. This Saturday, nothing too fancy, just you and me spending some time together." I offered and Hope smiled.

  
"I'd really like that." Hope replied sincerely.

  
"Great. I'll pick you up at seven. Now lets go and do that homework of yours." I said before standing and leading her out of the cafeteria and towards the library.

 

  
*******

 

_Ash's P.O.V_

 

"ALI WAIT!" I called after her as she headed for the soccer field. She didn't turn around, she just kept walking. Eventually I gave up trying to get her attention and decided I would just meet her there.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I slowly sat down next to her in the middle of the field.

  
"Why are you being so nice to me? I broke your heart. I dumped you, aren't you supposed to hate me?" Ali questioned as she picked at the grass around her.

  
"We'll technically I put us on a break first but I don't think I could ever hate you." I told her truthfully.

  
"I can't believe we're going to be thousands of miles apart, that seems crazy to me. We've literally been through everything in our lives together and now we're going to be seperated." Ali said sadly, I leaned over to grab her hand, she tensed slightly but then relaxed.

  
"I know we're not together anymore. But we can still be friends. I'll be willing to do that if you will. I don't want to lose you out of my life more than I already have." I told honestly.

  
"I would really like that. And plus how different would it actually be?" Ali asked with a small smile.

  
"Well, it will be exactly the same apart from the kissing and, you know, the sex." I responded and Ali and I both let out a small laugh.

  
"I'm really going to miss you. You do know that right?" Ali said as she looked over at me.

  
"Yeah and I'm going to really miss you too. But lets enjoy the time we have left together in our senior year. As friends." I replied pulling Ali into an awkward side hug.

  
"As friends." She said with a smile.

 

  
*******

 

  
Christen's P.O.V

  
Evening time soon rolled around and it was time for me to head to my game. I pulled up into the parking lot of my clubs ground and got out my car to see Tobin stood leaning against her Jeep.

  
"Hey." Tobin said as she approached my car.

  
"Hey, you look good." I said as I took in her appearance, she was wearing a blue button up and a pair of washed out jeans.

  
"I guess you look pretty good too." She said before not so subtly checking me out, I let out a small laugh a gave her a small smack on the arm.

  
"I should head inside. I'll meet you in the stands after the game." I said and went. To leave but I felt Tobin grab my wrist and pull me in for a quick kiss before I left.

  
"Good luck. I'm sure you'll kill it out there." She said before letting me go.

 

I made my way into the locker room and put my cleats on and got ready for warm ups, I made my way out the field with Whit. We completed out warm ups and got changed into our kit, it was time.

 

_Game Time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 should be up tomorrow at some point (probably not the same time as the these first four because of the game).


	5. Week Two: Part Three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin is impressed and Ash has a dilema.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy.  
> Some Ash, Tobin, Kelley and Christen interaction in this one. I think I accidentally made Kelley the wisest character in this fic.

  
**_Wednesday._ **

  
  
_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

Christen's team were good. Very good. Whit was solid at the back and she commanded the whole team on set pieces, she was glue of the back line. Their forward line was dominant, and it was lead by Christen. Her movement was unbelievable, she was fast, strong fir someone of her size but also excellent with the ball at her feet and she was great off the ball, she was constantly making runs and taking defenders away from her teammates so they could get a look at goal. I could see why Stanford wanted her. Vero was great in midfield, she dictated the sped of play and cut out most of the oppositions attacks.

 

The game ended 3-0, Whit and Christen's team ended up with a comfortable victory over a tea m that couldn't keep up both tactically and physically. Christen scored the second goal of the game, it was a shot from the top of the box from a perfectly worked out corner routine.

 

I waited by my car after the game, I texted Christen to tell her where I was so I could say goodbye before we both went home.

 

"So were you impressed?" I head Christen ask which caused me to look up from my phone.

  
"Impressed would be an understatement, you're amazing Chris. Your whole team is amazing." I spoke truthfully, we continued to talk about the game for what felt like hours.

  
"I should probably head home and get some rest. I'll come by after school tomorrow and get Grace so your mom can finally have a break from her." Christen said with a small smile.

  
"That'll be great. I'll text you my address later or tomorrow, I guess I'll see you at school." I said before pulling her into an embrace.

  
"I'll see you tomorrow." She said before placing a quick kiss to my lips and turning to walk to her car.

 

Yep. I'm definitely screwed.

 

  
*******

 

**_Thursday._ **

 

_Hope's P.O.V_

 

Morning rolled around far too soon for my liking but I managed to pull myself out of bed and get dressed before heading downstairs to the kitchen. I stopped halfway when I heard laughter coming from the kitchen. Who was here this early in the morning?

 

I made my way into the kitchen to see Kelley and my mom sharing laughs over a cup of coffee each.

  
"What are you doing here?" I asked gently as I made my way fully into the kitchen.

  
"I came to pick you, I thought I could give you a ride to school." Kelley informed and I smiled at her to let her know I was happy with the proposition.

  
"Morning mom." I said as I made my way past her to make myself some toast.

  
"Morning dear, I hope you don't mind but I'll be working late tonight, I put my name down for an extra shift." My mom informed me and I sighed.

  
"Whatever pays the bills I suppose. But remember, one day I'm going to make it so you never have to work another day in you life." I promised as I grabbed my toast out of the toaster and made my way to the front door, I heard Kelley say goodbye to my mom as she followed me out of the door.

  
"Your mom is lovely, you have her eyes." Kelley told me as she looked at me and took in my appearance.

  
"I bet she must be really proud of you. You know with you getting the scholarship to Washington and everything." Kelley spoke as she pulled out of my driveway and onto the road.

  
"Yeah, I hope she is." I said before reaching across to grab her hand and leaning down to place a small kiss on the back of it.  
"I'm really looking forward to Saturday." I spoke honestly as we made our way to the school.

  
"Me too and just know nothing is going to change between us. We'll still be Hope and Kelley." Kelley reassured me as we pulled into the school parking lot.

 

*******

 

  
_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

I was driving to school when my mom started to blow up my phone with calls, I quickly pulled over to see what all the fuss was about.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously through the phone.

  
"You got a letter from UNC, they're offering you a full ride scholarship. You got in." My mom said cheerily through the phone.  
"I got in?" I returned, unsure of if I was dreaming or not.

  
"Yes. You did it I'm so proud. Now go to school and don't be late." My mom said sternly and I let out a small laugh before hanging up and carrying on my journey with a small plastered across my face.

 

 

*******

 

 

I rolled into the school parking lot with two minutes to spare, I looked out of my window to see Christen stood by a tree talk to Kelley and Ashlyn. Well probably listening to Kelley and Ashlyn argue over something stupid, I saw Hope approach the group and that seemed to have Kelley's attention so I made my way over to them.

 

"Morning." I said casually as I approached the group.  
"Morning." They all responded.

  
"So..Ash I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other over the next four years." I said as a smirk grew onto my face.

  
"Wait? You got in? I'm so happy for you!" Christen said before engulfing me in a warm embrace.

  
"I'm so proud of you dude." I heard Ash say which caused me to turn my attention from Christen and to Ash.

  
"Thanks, I really couldn't have done without you guys and the rest of the team." I praised my three teammates in front of me.

  
"Oh Christen, that reminds me, do you still want me to talk to coach about you joining the team. There are still quite a few games left if your still up for it." Kelley spoke towards Christen to still had one arm around my waist but was facing the rest of the group.

  
"Yeah. Why not." Christen said with a smile.

  
"I'd knew you'd want to join. Can't stay away from me can you?" I joked as I tuned to completely face Christen. She was about to respond but we all saw Ali approaching us. I wonder how this would go..

 

"Morning." She greeted us with a smile.

  
"Morning, Tobin got into UNC." Kelley shared my news for me.

  
"That's great! You'll be with Ash, Whit and Crystal, you guys are lucky to have each other." Ali said pleasantly.

  
"I guess most of us have someone with. I have Chris, Ali and Alyssa have each other and Ash and Tobin have Whit and Crystal as well. Morgan, Emily and Becky will be together and Sam and Sydney will be at UCLA." Kelley reminded the group.

  
"And the big bad keeper has nobody, but don't worry Hope I'm sure your infectious personality will help you make plenty of friends in college." I joked which earned me a glare from the keeper which soon turned into a smile.

  
"I guess I should be going, i have biology first and Mr Hernandez might kill me if I'm late." Ash informed us as she began to make her way to her class.

  
"Hey, wait up I'll walk with you." Ali said and quickly hurried to Ash's side. We all looked at each other and split off in our own directions to class.

 

  
*******

 

_Ali's P.O.V_

 

"So are you ready for our typical Thursday morning Bio test?" Ash asked, trying to make small talk as we made our way to the lab for first period.

  
"No. Not one bit, I'm just hoping he got sick or something." I said with a small laugh, trying to make sure this hour isn't awkward.

 

Luckily I got my wish, Mr Hernandez was not in and we had a substitute which meant no real work and we basically had a free hour.

 

"Could you be any more subtle?" I asked in Ash's direction as I noticed her blatantly checking out the substitute, she looked to only be about 24.

  
"What? I can check people out if I want. I'm single now, remember?" She returned, not once taking her eyes off of the teacher.

  
"That doesn't mean you should be drooling over any women in a four mile radius of you." I replied harshly. Ash sighed and turned to face me.

  
"Look, Ali, we broke up. You broke up with me, meaning I am single. I can look at whoever I want." Ash replied just as harshly and turned back to face the front of the room.

  
"I'm sure Miss Jones really appreciates the attention that you're giving her but I doubt she wants to risk her career over a student hook up." I said as she continued to work of the worksheets that were handed out at the beginning of class.  
"You're just jealous that my attention is on her and not on you." Ash quipped not even looking at me.

 

Luckily the bell rang to signal the end of first period. I quickly made my way out of the class but noticed Ash hanging back talking, well flirting, with Miss Jones. I decided it was best if I just left and went to Chemistry.

 

 

*******

 

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

"Congrats dude. I'm happy for you." I heard hop say sincerely as I approached the lunch table with Ali and Kelley, I made my way round the table to where Christen was sitting and positioned myself next to her.

  
"Ash got the number of her hot Bio sub." Hope informed the table and a ring of laughs and congrats went round.

  
"Why though?" Alex quizzed from the far end of the table. Ash looked around the table and made short eye contact with Ali before speaking.

  
"I'm 18, hot and single, I'm just trying to have a little bit of fun before I graduate." Ash finished with a smirk which earned her a high five from Kelley from across the table, I let out a small laugh at my two friends before going back to eating my lunch.

  
"I spoke to coach Ellis today and she said I could come to practice today and try out for the team." I hear Christen say quietly from next to me.

  
"Hey, that's great news. It'll be you tearing up the scoring charts and me tearing up the assist charts for the rest of the season." I said and put my arm round her and gave her hip a small squeeze.

  
"So tell us about this new hot sub you've got the hots for." Emily spoke up after she had finished eating.

 

*******

 

 

Practice soon rolled around and there seemed to be a different buzz around the team, I would put it down to the fact that every senior had a scholarship secured. However, I was especially excited because Christen was coming today. I feel so at ease whenever she's around, is this what liking somebody feels like? Because if so I want to feel like this for the rest of my life.

 

"Okay, so today we're going to do a scrimmage. 9 sided games, twenty minute halves, then we'll debrief and then do some extra shooting whilst on the move and fitness drills. The teams for the scrimmage are on the bench." Coach Ellis finished before the team all hurried over to the bench to find out which team they were on.

  
"Would it weird if I said I was nervous?" Christen asked as we hung back from the rest of the team.

  
"No, but you've got nothing to worry about. It's me and you against the world." I reassured her as we approached the bench.

 

Bibs:  
GK SOLO  
DEF O'HARA  
DEF ENGEN  
DEF JOHNSTON  
MID MEWIS  
MID LLOYD  
MID BRIAN  
FOR MORGAN  
FOR LEROUX

 

Non bibs:  
GK HARRIS/ NAEHER  
DEF KRIEGER  
DEF SONNET  
DEF SAUERBRAUNN  
DEF KLINGENBERG  
MID HORAN  
FOR DUNN  
MID HEATH  
FOR PRESS

 

"I cannot wait to beat you guys," Sydney said as she placed on the red bib. "Me and Al her are going to tear you defence to pieces." She finished before heading over to her team.

  
"Is practice always this competitive? Christen question as we passed the ball around our team to warm up.

 

It turned that the bibs had no real right to be trash talking as they lost. The non bibs came away with a comfortable 3-1 win, all three goals scored by Christen.

 

"You know Press if I didn't already have a scholarship I would feel seriously threatened by the way you played out there today." Alex said and the the two forwards shared a small laugh between them. Both teams were having a drinks break before coach Ellis called us all back over.

  
"As it's a hot day here in California and must of you played a lot of minutes this week, I'm calling it a day but tomorrow will be a full practice in preparation for our game on Tuesday. And finally, Christen, welcome to the team." Coach finished before leaving. Each member of the team individually congratulated her and I couldn't contain my smile throughout. I'm proud of her.

 

"Hey Tobs, we're going to shower then head to Charlie's for some food, you coming?" Ash asks as we all make our way back to the locker rooms.

  
"Sure dude." I say as I continue to walk at the back, Christen is finally finished being congratulated by Kelley and I feel her grab onto my hand when she is next to me.

  
"If you play how you did today then we're going to finish high school as State Champions. It's a shame you won't win the National Championship at Stanford though." I joke bout felt her laugh as we continued towards the locker room.

  
"Oh please Toby, you and UNC will have to drag that trophy out of my cold dead hands before you get it." Christen joke before entering the locker room. The scene inside was pretty typical, loud music, lots of dancing and laughing (Crystal and Emily being the main sources of entertainment), singing and clothes thrown everywhere.

 

"Is it always like this?" Chris asked as we went to my locker and her new locker, which was in between my locker and Sam's locker.

  
"Yeah pretty much." I said with a small laugh and shake of the head.

 

Once everyone was changed we all got into our cars and drove to Charlie's. It was only a fifteen minute drive from school but I drove slowly to savour every moment I had with Chris.

  
"I didn't know you liked Lany." She spoke up as his song _Good Girls_ came on. Christen spent the remainder of the ride singing along to whatever came on the radio. Once we arrived she pulled out her phone to check if her hair looked okay.

  
"You're really beautiful." Escaped my mouth and I could feel my faced turing red as she looked at me, luckily she didn't say anything but instead she leaned across and placed a quick kiss on my lips. I could definitely get used to doing that all the time.

 

We were pulled out of our daze when we heard wolf whistles and we both looked out of the car to see Sam, Emily and Sydney walk past.

 

 

*******

 

 

"I'm telling you Press, the way you faked me out for the second goal was incredible." Hope praised Chris as we waited for our food.

  
"Thanks, but it was really nothing." Chris responded shyly.

  
"Oh boy, don't all look at once but look who just walked in." Alyssa said from the other side of the booth. It was Hannah and her two best friends Chelsea and Petra.

  
"Hey guys, so good to see you all. Especially you Tobin, I haven't heard from you in a while." Hannah said trying to aggravate me.

   
"Oh please Hannah, you were never more than a cheap hook up, for Tobin and for everyone else, please excuse us but this is a team dinner." Alex sasses and stared Hannah down until she left to go find a table with her friends.

  
"I can't stand that bitch." Alex and Christen both said simultaneously which caused the whole team to let out a loud laugh.

  
"Guys. Miss Jones just texted me. She wants to meet up tomorrow night." Ash said proudly as she showed us all the messages on her phone.

  
"Wow Miss Hottie. Creative name Ash." Ali said from the end of the both after the phone got round to her and Becky snickered and agreed.

  
"Are you seriously going to hook up with a teacher. That's low Ash." Carli said as she saw the messages.

  
"Look, as I've said multiple times today, I want to have fun. Just let me live my life." Ash argued as the food arrived.

 

 

*******

 

  
**_Friday._ **

 

_Christen's P.O.V_

 

I woke up and immediately went to check on Grace, she slept through the whole night but was now awake.

  
"You're going to be a natural." I heard my Dad say as he came into my room bringing me a cup of coffee. Also good news, your mother and I both have Tuesday which means we can come to your came." He informed me and my face broke out into a massive grin.

  
"I can't believe we're two weeks in of the project. Halfway through." I said as I looked down at Grace.

  
"Your mom said you're working with Tobin and you weren't all that happy about it?" My dad said almost as a question to check if he had gotten it right.

  
"At first it was rocky but it's better now. There's something I need to tell you as well." I spoke up and signalled for him to come and sit next to me on my bed.

  
"I like Tobin and she likes me. I don't just like Tobin..well I don't like anyone else right now. Basically Dad, I'm gay..." My voice trailed off as I finished my sentence.

  
"Darling, I just want you to be happy and if being with Tobin or with another girl makes you happy then I'll be happy. But if she breaks your heart then I'll break her face." My dad jokes before pulling me, and Grace, into an embrace.  
"I'll leave to get ready." He said before leaving and taking Grace with him.  
"I'll drop her off at Grandma's on the way to work." He said from down the hall. I looked at the clock and realised I didn't have much time, I figured I could just do my make up in Tobin's car.

  
"Morning." Tobin said as I climbed into her car, she once again handed me a coffee.

  
"You look really beautiful this morning." She said once she saw me. I blushed as I took a sip from my coffee.

  
"You should see yourself, girls practically drool over you in the hallways." I responded as I began to do my make up.  
"Yeah well I only have eyes for one girl." Tobin said as she looked over at me quickly.

  
"I let Alex know," I joked and Tobin let out a boisterous laugh. "But seriously who knew that Heartbreaker Heath was such a softy." I continued and leaned over to place a quick kiss on her cheek.

  
"My parents are working late tonight and I wondering if you wanted to come over, I could cook if you like and we can watch a movie or something then you can have the weekend off from me. This will be like a trial date." Tobin trailed off as she turned into the school parking lot.

  
"I would really like that. Well the date part not the weekend away from you." I replied as she shut the car off.

 

  
*******

 

  
To say the the went slowly would be a major understatement. Once final bell rang, I basically sprinted out of my Math class and to Tobin's car where I was greeted by her waiting with Ash and Kelley, presumably to give them a ride.

  
"Stanford, you took you're time." Ash joked as he and Kelley climbed into the back of Tobin's jeep, I got in the front seat.

  
"So Ash, what time are you meeting Miss Hottie this evening?" Tobin questioned as she first drove to Ash's house.

  
"At 7, she going to cook and then we'll have dessert afterwards." She said whilst nudging Kelley who turned and gave her a fist bump.

  
"What does Ali think of all of this?" I questioned and saw Ashlyn stiffen.

  
"It doesn't matter what she thinks, we're over now." Ashlyn said bluntly.

  
"So you're over her, after breaking up like three days ago?" I continued to ask, Ashlyn sighed before answering.

  
"Ali and I not being together is for the best. Can I tell you guys something?" Ashlyn started and we all nodded. "I never felt like I was good enough for Ali, I thought that I was the luckiest girl in the world when she agreed to go on a date with me. I slept around before we started dating and I won't lie I kinda used some of my old tricks, if you can call them that, just so she would talk to me. But then I started to get to know her and the more I got to know her the more I feel for her but I was always second guessing myself because why would someone like Ali be with someone like me? So when she broke up with a few days ago I decided it was what was for the best because she'll go off to college and turn pro and I probably won't turn pro." Ashlyn finished and all three of us were taken back.

  
"Ashlyn Michelle Harris, you are going to cancel those plans with Miss Hottie and you are going to go to the Krieger household and you are going to tell Ali everything you just told us. Except you'll add the fact that you will go pro and you two will make the distance work because when you love someone, you would do anything to make it work and you love Ali and she loves you. Don't let go of that." Kelley finished and I felt myself looking at Tobin through what Ash and Kelley has both said. Does this mean that I love her?

 

We dropped Ash off at home, only after she promised to at least try and see Ali this evening and soon got to Kelley's house and told her to have fun with Hope tomorrow and eventually Tobin pulled up to my house and saw that her parents were home so I decided I should just let her out of the car and not walk her to the door.

  
"You know, for an idiot, Kelley is actually pretty wise." I joked before leaning across and placing a kiss on Tobin's lips.  
"I told my Dad about you this morning and I'm going to tell my Mom more about you when I get in. I also came out to my Dad." I recapped and Tobin grabbed my hand for support if I needed it.

  
"He told me he just wanted me to be happy. Also that if you or any other girl breaks my heart then he'll break your face." I finished before letting out a laugh.  
"I'll be round at 6." I said as I climbed out of the car and made my way inside my house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who knew Kelley was so wise?  
> Will Ash go and see Miss Hottie?  
> Does Christen really love Tobin?  
> Next chapter up soon!


	6. Week Two: Part Four.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date night for Hope and Kelley also will Ashlyn follow through and go and see Miss Hottie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!

 

**_Friday cont._ **

  
_Tobin's P.O.V_

  
  
It was 5:50pm and for some reason I was really nervous about Christen coming round. I mean we've spent quite a lot of time together in recent weeks but this was different, it was almost like a date.

I didn't have time to think for any longer as the doorbell rang. I immediately made my way through the house to answer it.

"You look hot." Was the first thing she said, I looked down at my outfit of a dark blue denim jakcet, a tight white shirt and ripped black jeans.

"Thank you, you look amazing as always." I said as I took in her outfit of a simple red tight dress and a brown thick cardigan.

"Wow, it smells amazing in her babe," Christen said but then froze. "We haven't talked about this yet but can I call you babe?" Christen asked and I just smiled and walked over to her and placed my hands on her hips.

"Please do." I said before placing a kiss on her lips.

"So what are we eating?" Christen asked as she looked around the kitchen, my family had a lovely home, but then my mom is an architect and my Dad does own his own building company so I wouldn't expect anything less.

"We are having Chicken in a pesto sauce with sweet potato fries and boiled asparagus." I explained as Chris continued to look around the kitchen.

"That sounds healthy." She joked, I took her hand and led her to the living room and told her that we could watch something whilst we wait for the food to be done cooking.

 

  
*******

 

 

  
_Ash's P.O.V_

 

I think I must've been staring at my phone for a good hour before I decided to text Ali and ask her if we could meet at Charlie's and talk. She agreed and now I've been sat in parking lot for fifteen minutes waiting to go in. I put my hands through my short brown hair and got out of my car and made my way into the restaurant.

"You're on time." Ali spoke as I sat as if she was surprised by my punctuality.

"I'm always on time when I get to see a beautiful girl," I started and smirked at the girl opposite me. No reaction. This may be harder than I thought it was going to be.

"You're probably wondering why I wanted to talk to you." I continued and paused whilst Ali looked at the menu.

"Yeah, I thought you were with Miss Jones tonight?" She quizzed once she decided what she wanted to eat.

"Yeah well, I had other priorities," I began and she raised her eyebrows at me, gesturing me to continue. "I know I've kinda been a bitch these past few days but that because I'm hurting. I'm hurting because you said that you didn't know if we could do the long distance thing and I'm hurting because you didn't tell me that you got into the school of your dreams and I'm hurting because you broke up with me. I'm here because..well because Kelley told me to fight for you. I poured my heart out to her, Tobin and Christen and now I'm going to tell you what I told them. I never felt like I was good enough for you, I used to sleep round but deep down I knew that there was the right girl for me out there somewhere. We met in Freshman year in English with Mr James and I remember us both hating it, but you made me excited to go to that class because I would get to spend an hour with you. Then we both tried out for the soccer team and when we made it I was really happy because it meant that I got to spend even more time with you. Looking back now it was probably obvious that I liked you from the moment we met but I pushed down any feelings for you because why would someone like you want to be with someone like me? But then I kept getting small bits of hope, like every time you would smile at me when we passed in the hallway or every time you would sit by me at lunch. At this point we were Sophomores and I was sleeping around but then one day I got enough courage to ask you on a date and you said yes and I thought that I was the luckiest girl in the entire world. And we dated and I realised I loved you and you loved me too. But then you said we couldn't do distance and that broke my heart because if you love me as much as I love you then I don't see why we can't do distance or at least try because as Kelley said I love you and you love me and we can't let go of that." I spilled, only occasionally looking up at Ali, for the majority of the time my eyes were fixed on the table.

"I don't know what to say. I love you, you know I love you but I'm scared Ash. I'm so scared." Ali said and I climbed round to her side of the booth to wrap her in a tight embrace.

"What are you scared of?" I asked, still holding on to her.

"I'm scared that we'll go off to different parts of the country and grow apart or that you'll meet a great girl in college and forget all about me." Ali said, I pulled away slightly so that we were facing each other before speaking.

"Alex, I will never meet someone who is more perfect for me than you. If we go to college and grow apart then at least we can say we tried, we don't know what the future holds but right now, you're the only thing that I'm certain I want in my future." I spoke just as our food arrived.

"I love you, so much Ash. I'm so sorry, I should've just talked to you about it." Ali confessed and placed a chaste kiss on my lips.

"We'll work on talking things through and I'll work on not being so defensive and letting you win your battles on your own," I said honestly before turning eat. "But for now lets just enjoy some unhealthy food and then we can talk more." I finish and place a kiss to the shorter girl's temple.

 

 

*******

  
_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

"Food is ready." I call to the living room and Christen makes her way to the kitchen.

  
"It looks even better than it smells, when did you learn how to cook?" Christen asked as she sat down at the large dining table located in our kitchen.

"My mom taught me, she says cooking runs in the family so she guessed she should teach. When I was younger I actually wanted to be a chef, I wanted to go to culinary school and then own my own restaurant up in Portland, but then I realised that I'm damn good at soccer and that being a chef can come after retirement." I answered and began to dig into our meal.

"Your family has a lovely home by the way." Christen complimented before taking a sip of her water.

"Yeah, my mom designed it and then my dad's company built it." I replied.

Christen and I soon finished our meal and she immediately jumped to help me with the dishes.

"Babe, you don't need to help I got it." I said and she smiled and stood anyway.

"I like it when you call me babe. But seriously Toby, I'm helping." She said and placed a quick kiss to my lips before I began to do the dishes.

  
Christen did help with the dishes, however her definition of helping was different to mine as she spent the majority of the time stood behind me with her arms placed around my waist whilst I cleaned the dishes. I wouldn't complain about her doing that though. It's crazy to think that I, Tobin Heath, am actually falling for someone.

After the dishes were finished we made our way to the bedroom to watch a movie.

"What time do you think your parents will be home?" Christen asked as the first Hunger Games movie player in the background.

"Christen, honestly, if you want to hook up you could just ask more bluntly." I joked but regretted it when I saw Christen's entire demeanour change.

"Wait...Chris, I was just joking, you don't still think that all I want from you is sex right?" I asked cautiously and Christen quickly shook her head in response.

"Its just that, obviously we've had sex before but now it will be different. There will be feelings involved now." Christen spoke shyly.

"I mean I felt something the first time but I get what you mean. Before it was sex but now I'll be making love to you." I spoke carelessly, obviously not realising the effect of what I may have just said, however I soon found out because of Christen's reaction.

"I think I should go. I'll see you on Monday." She said and before I even had chance to think Christen was gone.

I pulled out my phone and texted the only person who I knew may actually talk some sense into this situation.

 

_Fuck._

 

  
*******

 

 

_Kelley's P.O.V_

 

"I must say I am surprised to be seeing you, I thought you and Christen would probably be all over each other by this time. So what brings you here?" I quizzed as Tobin and I sat in my backyard by the fire, each with a beer in our hand.

"Its probably really dumb but basically I said about how when we hooked up before it was just sex but now I would be making love to her..." Tobin finished and took a sip of her beer, my face broke out into a massive grin.

"She thinks you're saying that you love her." I explain and Tobin looks at me with wide eyes.

"I thought I was going crazy because I can't stop thinking about her but then I've only actually been around her properly for like two weeks but I guess I kinda have always felt a pull towards her but it used to just be to annoy her...I think I do love her." Tobin finished and I squealed.

"I knew it! But seriously though two weeks might feel short but sometimes you just know and if you find the right person at the right time then everything can fall into place so easily and quickly and it can be scary but you just have to trust your heart. In all honesty Tobs, you've probably been in love with Christen for a while and you're only just realising it now. Don't worry though, it's okay to be scared," I began to reassure, "and plus you and Christen have gone to the same schools all your life and have mutual friends and are both beasts on the soccer fields. All the little arguments and competitions were probably just you two subconsciously trying to impress one another. Sometimes your heart knows before your head knows." I finish and take a sip of my beer, feeling proud of the advice I gave to my longtime friend. If only I could listen to my own advice.

"Kelley O'Hara, you never fail to amaze me. When did you get so wise?" Tobin joke rhetorically.

"Also don't leave her waiting too long. Talk to her as soon as you can. She'll be at the dog shelter from nine until two tomorrow go and see her. Tell her how you feel, tell her you love her." I finish and guide Tobin back inside and the to her car. I send her off with a hug and a wish of good luck.

 

  
*******

 

**_Saturday._ **

 

I pulled up to the dog shelter that Kelley told me Christen worked at and honestly the place looked nice enough so I made my way inside.

"Hi! How can I help you?" A cheery women, who looked to be in at least her mid thirties asked me.

"I'm looking for Christen, is she here?" I asked, trying to look past the women to see if I could spot the tan girl.

"She's just through the back, you can go through if you want." She spoke kindly and moved aside to let me through, as I passed I flashed a small smile as a way of saying thanks.

"Hey.." I started as I approached Christen who was placing down water bowl for one of the dogs.

"How did you know I worked here?" She looked at me and then looked behind me at the women out the front and offered her a smile as if to say 'it's okay'.

"Kelley told me that you would be here. I didn't want to wait until Monday to see you.  
Why did you rush off yesterday? Was it something I said?" I quizzed the taller girl.

"I don't know, maybe I was just over thinking things." She responded before making her way over to the seating area and sitting, she was immediately followed by a brown dog. "This is Morena, she doesn't leave me alone but I don't mod that one bit." She finished before patting the dog on the head.

"I don't think you were, I tried to make a stupid joke and didn't think before speaking. However, before that I really had a good time with you. I'm sorry I ruined it again." I finished sadly after taking a seat next to her, Morena immediately coming to greet me.

"You didn't ruin anything. I have a habit of getting in my head too much and over thought something that was a joke. You didn't do anything wrong," Christen said before leaning over to take my hand. "How about we go do something tonight, a movie or something or we go to the school football game, their playing North High so it should be a good one." Christen suggests, still holding onto my hand.

"I think that's a great idea. I'll pick you up at six." I said before rising, Christen and Morena following suit. "That dog loves you, you should adopt it." I suggest reaching down to stroke the small dog.

"I want to, it's just my parents that need convincing." Christen responded before pulling me into a tight embrace.

"I'll see you later." I said as we pulled back.

 

 

*******

 

 

_Hope's P.O.V_

"Who would've known that the great Hope Solo would nervous for a date with me, The Great Kelley O'Hara." I heard as soon as I opened the front door of my house.

"First of all, if you refer to yourself as The Great Kelley O'Hara all night then this date probably won't last very long and second, how did you even know that I was nervous?" I finished, half joking but half serious.

"I know you, I could you through the glass window playing with your bottom lip, the way you do before every exam but never before a game of soccer because you're always so calm and relaxed." Kelley recited before putting her hand out for me to take.

"So what do you have planned for tonight?" I asked the shorter girl as she guided me to her car.

"Well, it's a surprise, however, it will be just like two friends together. Except hopefully at the end of the night, I'll get a good night kiss from a beautiful girl." Kelley flirted and I felt myself blush as we climbed into Kelley's car.

 

 

*******

 

 

"This food is amazing! How did you find out about this place?" I asked as Kelley and I dug into our meal.

"My Dad said he took my mom here on their first date. According to him, it's the best place for food in all of Palos Verdes." Kelley informed me and I smiled at the thought of Kelley's dad telling her that. Kelley and I have known each other since we were young and she has always had a close bond with her family and we got older and her and I got closer they became like my second family and my family became like her second family.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I noticed Kelley smiling at me. "What are you smiling about?" I asked across the table.

"You. Being here with you. You look really beautiful tonight." Kelley complimented as the waiter came and took our plates away.

"So, where to next?" I questioned as the waiter returned and placed the bill on out table.

"Well, I know you love football so I figured that we could go to the game tonight against North High, eat more food and then I'll take you home and kiss you on the doorstep just like in all those romcoms that I know you hate." Kelley finished with a joke and I felt myself smiling again. God, I really like this girl.

  
We stood from the table and Kelley took my hand and led me to her car once again, we made small talk on the way to the school and once we got there Kelley grabbed my hand and led me to the bleachers.

"Let's watch North High get their ass beat." Kelley said just as the game began.

 

 

*******

 

 

After the first half ended, Kelley suggested that we go and get food but Kelley stops as we approach the food stand.

"Look over there." She says and points to our right, I look over and see Tobin and Christen buying food.

"Tobin and Christen are here, you do realised that they go to school here too right?" I asked jokingly and Kelley rolled her eyes.

"I think that they're on a date too." Kelley started and smiled, "I'm happy for them." She finished and we continued towards the food stand to get in line.

The game ended with a Greenwich win and everyone was in good spirits. Once Kelley and I got to her car she opened the door for me before climbing in herself. We drove in comfortable silence for the short drive from school to my house.  
One we arrived we both climbed out and Kelley walked me to my door.

"I had a really good time tonight." I said before getting my keys out out of my purse.

"Me too." Kelley said before stepping closer to me, leaning up and placing a kiss on my lips, I pulled away slightly before snaking my hands around her shoulders and pulling her closer.

"We should do this more often." Kelley said after we pulled away.

"I think so too." I said before placing a final, chaste kiss on her lips.

"I'll see you soon." She says before turning and leaving, I stand outside my door and watch her leave before heading inside.

 

  
*******

 

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

"Who knew that our football was so talented. North High has been beaten by Greenwich twice this week." I say as I place my left arm around Christen's shoulders as I walk her to her door.

"I'm glad we did this, even though I didn't really know what was happening. I definitely prefer football that is only played by using feet." Christen joked and we both let out a small laugh.

"It's a shame you're going to a college that will never beat UNC for the National Championship." I joked and Christen rolled her eyes playfully.

"Yeah okay Heath. Me and O'Hara will tear you to pieces." Christen pushed back as we made it to her door.

"Whatever you say." I said before turning and noticing that Christen's parents were home. "I'll pick Grace up tomorrow night if that's ok?" I asked the beautiful girl in front of me.

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll see you tomorrow Toby." She said before pulling me closer.

"It's weird, normally I hate being called that but I really like when you call me it." I rambled and Christen leant down to connect our lips. "I should probably go before your parents see something that they really shouldn't see." I joked and placed one last chaste kiss on her lips before turning around and making my way to her car. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too sure about this one, does anyone think that I'm moving things along too quickly in terms of the ships? Becuase I was thinking that maybe in the future there needs to be more slow burn ships.  
> This is the last of the chalters that ai had pre written so the next update may nit be tomorrow but I'll get a chapter out as soon as I can.  
> Also how are the chapter lengths? Too long? Too shirt?  
> Hope you enjoyed! Please comment and kudos if you did!  
> If you have any questions or suggestionsmy tumblr and twitter is: pressingheath


	7. Week Three: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparations for the last regular game of the season abd a trip down memory oahd for a certain couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!

**Week Three.**

 

**_Momday._ **

 

_Tobin's P.O.V_

 

I always found it difficult waking up on a Monday morning, however, it was a lot easier when you had already been up for three hours because your baby simulator decided that she didn't want to sleep.

"Grace, I really hope I get an A for this." I said as I carried her down the stairs and towards the kitchen. I entered the kitchen and made myself some toast and a cup of coffee.

"Now you know how I felt when I had you. Except I wasn't doing it for a project." I heard my mom say as she entered the kitchen, she glided past Grace and I and went over to get herself a glass of water.

"Yeah but I turned out alright." I returned as I walked over and placed a kiss on my mother's cheek.

"You turned out more than alright, Tobin. You have done and will continue to go on to do amazing things." My mother praised from across the room.

"I think I'm in love with someone." I suddenly blurted, needing to tell someone that wasn't Kelley.

My mom looked over at me, about to speak but then closed her mouth in thought before continuing. "Okay, and how do you feel about that?" She queried and I pondered my answer for a few moments.

"Honestly," I began before covering Grace's ears, "I'm fucking terrfied. I never thought I would fall in love, not at this age anyway, it scares me so much because I feel such a strong pull towards her, it's like no matter what I do, whether it's dull or really exciting, I can't wait to tell her and hear her thoughts on it. I love learning new things about her, like how on the field she talks to herself and goes over the play using her hands when she gets frustrated but I think it's the cutest thing in the world. And I'm terrified because...because I still don't really know how this whole relationship thing works. Mom, I love her, but I'm terrified I'm going to screw it up." I finish and my mom rushes over to pull me, and Grace, into a tight embrace.

"Oh honey, I know that being in love, especially at you age, can be scary. I'm going to give you the advice that my mom always gave to me when I was your age. If you think about them when you wake up in the morning and just before you go to bed at night then they mean a lot to you. If being with them scares you but losing them scares you even more, you love them. Darling, if that's how you feel about Christen then maybe you do love her. I'm not going to stand here and tell you that what you feel in invalid in only _puppy love_  because of your age. It might end up only being puppy love or it might be the real thing and if it is then you've got to hold onto that because some people never find the right person for them and you may have just found her here at home in Palos Verdes, California. Also, I think you've probably liked her for a while but only really noticed it when you got paired up to do this project, I mean you've been around each other your whole lives at school. You may have even been in love with her for a while and everything that you did to annoy her was done just so that you would have her attention. Sometimes your heart knows before your head does." My mom finished and honestly, what she said really hit me hard. I love Christen Press and that scares me, but losing her scares me more.

"It's weird, Kelley told me the same thing." I said, lightening the mood with a joke, my mom and I both laughed before she looked at her watch snd began to hurry me out of the door.

"Have a good day, remember what I said, and tell Kelley that she is so wise." She said, also finishing with a joke before taking Grace out of my hands, as she was watching her today, and then closing the front door.

  
I'm in love with Christen Press and it's a beautiful thing.

 

*******

 

 

I pulled into school feeling excited about the week, we had our last regular season game tomorrow and then after that it was onto playoffs which started this Friday and finished the following Saturday. After playoffs we only had one week until Graduation and on this morning I find out if I am going to be valedictorian.

 

I saw Kelley and Alex walking towards to the school building and quickly caught with them.

 

"Well good morning Miss Valedictorian." Kelley said in greeting with a smirk plastered on her face.

I rolled my eyes before responding. "Nothing is official yet." I reminded them as we made our way over to meet the rest of the team in our usually spot.

"Hey guys, we have this week and next week and then graduate. We get to win a championship on Saturday and then graduate on the following Monday. How cool is that?" Ash asked enthusiastically to the rest of the team who all nodded in agreement and there was a few verbal agreements in there as well, everyone was definitely feeling effects of Monday morning.

"So, Ash, how was Friday night with Miss Hottie?" Alex asked with a smirk, Ashlyn said nothing. "Did you get that desert that Kelley was telling me about?" She continued, prompting Ash to answer.

"Actually, I canceled on her. I had more important priorities that I needed to deal with before everything got really hectic with soccer and graduation." Ashlyn said before nodding in the direction of Ali and Hope walking towards the group.

"You hooked up with Hope? Totally not cool dude." Alyssa joked from Ashlyn's right hand side, the whole group let out a loud laugh at comment.

"You should probably watch your back. Kelley over here will be after you." Crystal commented, pointing at Kelley and continuing the joke.

"Why should Kelley be watching her back?" Ali asked as she approached the group, immediately making her way to be next to Ash.

"No reason, you guys know how physical it is when we play St Mary's and because we're playing them tomorrow we thought Kelley should watch her back." Alex tried to explain, Ash, Sam and I barely able to keep a straight face throughout.

 

  
*******

 

 

The day rolled smoothly and eventually it was time for practice, I was the last one to arrive to the locker rooms as I had a meeting with Principal Hastings about valedictorian.

"Valedictorian in the house bitches!" I yelled as soon as I entered the locker room. The room fell silent for a second before erupting in cheering and whistling and me being bawled over by Kelley congratulating me.

Once all the excitement died down I made my way to my locker to get dressed for practice.

"So valedictorian, I guess we should all be worshipping the ground you walk on." I heard Christen say, I turned round to face her and continued to change. As I changed my shirt, I noticed Christen's eyes trail down my stomach. Once my shirt was fully on I made eye contact with, raised my eyebrows and felt a smirk grow on my face. She rolled her eyes at me, blushing slightly.

"Hey, I'm not going to say that I don't find you attractive. Maybe later you can come over and I'll show exactly how I feel." Christen said in a low whisper so only I could hear. I felt my mouth go dry and Christen let out a small laugh before turning to leave to make her way to the field. I don't know where this new found confidence had come from but I'm certainly not complaining.

I managed to catch up to Christen and grabbed her hand to pull her away from the rest of the team as they all listened to Carli tell some story which Kelley obviously found hilarious. "Can I take you somewhere after practice? I have something I want to show you." I asked, and came to halt just before the field.

"I guess I can clear my schedule." Christen joked and I rolled my eyes before pulling her into a kiss. "I've been waiting all day to do that." She after pulling back slightly. I didn't have time to respond before Christen was pulling me in again.

"Hey, can you two...OH MY GOD MY EYES." I heard and Christen and I quickly pulled away to see Sydney stood there with her hands covering her face. Once Sydney had finished being dramatic, the three of us made onto the field. "I found them. I saw way more of Tobin's mouth than I ever thought I would and I'm scarred for life but I found them." Sydney said which was followed by wold whistling from Kelley and Morgan. Christen and I made eye contact and just laughed.

 

  
*******

 

 

We had a light training session, mainly just finalising tactics and working on finishing.

"Good session again today ladies. Really remember everything we talked about today. But tomorrow, just enjoy yourselves. We're in the playoffs no matter what, they're the team that has something to lose. Line up is on the benches. Get a good nights sleep." She said before leaving the field.

  
Starting XI:  
**GK** SOLO  
**DEF** KLINGENBERG  
**DEF** ENGEN  
**DEF** SONNET  
**DEF** O'HARA  
**MID** LONG  
**MID** MEWIS  
**FOR** PRESS  
**FOR** HEATH  
**MID** DUNN  
**FOR** LEROUX

SUBS:  
**GK** NAEHER  
**GK** HARRIS  
**DEF** KRIEGER  
**DEF** SAUERBRAUNN  
**DEF** JOHNSTON  
**MID** BRIAN  
**MID** HORAN  
**MID** LLOYD  
**MID** MORGAN

  
"First game, first start. Congrats Press." Alex said as she patted Christen on the back.

"I feel like Coach thinks this game it going to be a walk in the park from the way she was talking during practice." Lindsey said as she took her bib off and placed it on one the benches behind her.

"St Mary's are a good team but they've been out of form recently. I think it'll be an easy game for us tomorrow." I said, confident in my teams ability.

"Well you do have a reputation for saying that things, and people, are easy when they arent't." Ali said suddenly and I looked at her and then at Ash, confused by what she meant.

I took a sip of water before responding. "What are you trying to imply Krieger?" I asked the defender.

"That you called me easy." Ali snapped.

"I never said that. You're just bitter you got dropped. I mean I can see why you got dropped, you haven't exactly been playing amazing this season." I fought back, now partially trying to aggravate her.

"This has nothing to do with me not starting. This has to do with you calling me easy when you and Ash had that argument." Ali said, stepping closer to me, trying to intimidate me.

"The words _Ali is easy_  never left my mouth. Ash told me that Christen hating me would make it more exciting and I said that you and Chris are two different people and that sex is important to her. Ash accused me of calling you easy and then left me at the bleachers." I responded, feeling the need to tell my side of the story.

Ali took a breath before speaking, "I thought that you had changed but you're just the same person you've always been," Ali started before turning to Christen, "I honestly don't know how you're dating her, aren't you scared she's going to go running off to Hannah when you won't put out or when you have a fight or when she gets bored?" She asked rhetorically before turning back to me. "I feel sorry for her...actually no I admire her, because she must be giving you something really special if you've actually stuck with her for nearly a month now, normally by now you would've gone through what four or five girls?" She once again turned to Christen. "Did she tell you about all the girls, apart from the ones everybody knew about? Did she tell you about all the opponents she hooked up or how many relationships she ruined? I'd get out now if I were you Chris." Ali finished and all I could do is stand there.

"I don't need to get out, we're not even together like that." Christen finished before leaving. Soon everyone was gone and only Hope and I were left.

 

"And here I was thinking that you and Krieger would at least be kinda friends before we all graduated." Hope said, trying to cut the silence, I sat down on the grass and she joined me.

I picked at the grass for a moment. "I don't think her and I will ever be friends. I will admit though, our relationship did get better when her and Ash started dating, after a while anyway. She used to hate us both but then her and Ash got close and her and I didn't." I responded before going back to picking the grass.

"I remember how angry you used to be when she would ditch you for her, it's understandable but they definitely got better and separating their time. Now you're angry because Ash didn't defend you." Hope spoke, hitting the nail on the head.

"I swear you and Kelley are perfect for each other, you two always seem to know what to say and how everyone is feeling." I started looking over at the goalkeeper. Hope and I had a weird friendship, nobody would expect the big, bad, introverted goalkeeper to be friends with the extroverted livewire. Hope shrugged at my comment, a small smile on her face. "It's just frustrating because there is no privacy with Ash and I, whatever I tell her, she tells Ali. I get that she loves her and wants to tell her stuff but somethings I want to stay between her and I. Ali always used to act like a stuck up bitch because her dad is a successful lawyer and sometimes I think she's changed but sometimes I see flashes of that spoilt rich kid come out and I don't want Ash to get hurt. And I'm annoyed myself because I was going to ask Christen to be my girlfriend today but she's probably gone now and I shouldn't have responded to Ali's comment but she know show to get under my skin." I finish my mini rant and Hoe sighs before standing.

"Ali loves Ash, I think by now I know her well enough to say that she isn't still the spoilt rich kid, you need to talk to Ash, don't just let this all simmer and then explode again but back to you. Go to the locker rooms, I guarantee you that Christen will still be sat in there, at her locker but probably at yours. Trust me." She says and I stand and grab my bottle and make my way to the locker rooms.

  
Hope was right, as soon as I entered the locker room I saw Christen sat there at my locker.

"I thought about leaving but I needed to let you know that what I said didn't come out right. Ali can have her opinion but I trust you and I want this to be official.." She was about to continue but I interrupted her.

"Let me get changed, I really want to take you somewhere." I said before grabbing my clothes from behind her and placing a kiss on her forehead.

 

  
*******

 

 

"We're at our elementary school. You've brought me to our elementary school." Christen said before climbing out of the car.

"Don't get down on the idea yet, let me show you something first." I said and took her hand and led her to the playground, more specifically the jungle gym at the back of the school.

"The jungle gym?" Christen asks, looking at me with a confused expression.

"Where we first met. If I remember it correctly, you pushed me off here," I said pointing at a part of the climbing frame. "Then when I proceeded to tell on you, you said I feel." I recalled with a smile on my face.

"What can I say, you've been falling for me our whole school lives." Christen joked snd I pulled her in for a kiss.

"Well, you're probably not wrong." I spoke after pulling away.

"So where to next? Middle school?" Christen said as a joke but then straightened up when she saw my face not change.

"Actually yes, think of this as a trip down memory lane." I said before taking her hand and walking her back to my car.

"How are you even getting in to all these place?" She asked with a smile as I began to drive to our middle school.

"I know people." I said simply.

 

  
*******

 

  
"Period six, every Tuesday, you and I had Math together. We sat next to each other right there," I paused and pointed to where we used to sit. "We would always compete to see who could solve the problems quicker and I remember us two always excelling above our peers. I would annoy the hell out of you and secretly copy your answers." I reminisced with a smile.

"Mr Charles hated teaching us, all we would do is bicker and moan about each other. We also had first period every Wednesday in Science with Mrs Charles and I remember how you used to tease them both about the fact that they had the last name and I had to point out to you that they were married." Christen recalled as she took a seat on the edge of one of the desks.

"No time for sitting, we have one more place to go. I bet you can't guess where it is." I joked and took her had to lead her to my car once again.

 

I pulled into our high school parking snd climbed out with Christen following suit.

"Back at where we started today, where to now?" Christen asked, I took her hand and led us to our final destination.

"Our Psychology class?" Christen asked skeptically. I let go of her hand and made my way to sit where I would sit if we had class. Christen followed and sat next to me.

"In Freshman year we had loads of classes together and in every single one of them you would sit in the front and I would sit in the back. Some nights I would yell myself, wake up early, be on time and then you'll get to sit near Christen. I failed every time. I would admire you from a far and notice how you would turn around and smile and interact with everyone in the class but whenever we met eyes the smile would wipe off of your face. This carried on until the middle of Junior year, maybe it was a fluke or you didn't realise it was me you were looking at but one day in Sophomore year ai decided I was going to change the fact that you never smiled at me and your smile soon became my favorite thing. When I would see you and Kelley sit together at lunch I would see how hard you would laugh and hoe much you would smile and then all I could think about was, one day I want to make you smile like that. I think I'm doing a pretty good job so far. But I brought you into this room because this where everything changed. Because of Ms Montgomery we got paired up on a project. Because of this class I realised I needed to change my ways and I realised I liked you and because of this class, I want to know if you'll be my girlfriend." I finished and when I didn't hear Christen say anything I felt my heart drop.

I felt Christen turn and face me. "Tobin Heath, you are unbelievable, this the sweetest thing anyone has done for me. Of course I'll be your girlfriend. I would love to be your girlfriend." Christen said before leaning in and connecting our lips. "I have a story of my own that I want to tell." She continued after pulling away and I nodded to show her that I was listening. "I think I have a lot to owe this high school. I remember the first day of Freshman year when you walked in and I didn't recognise you because you looked so much different compared to how you looked when we finished middle school. Girls and guys were drooling over you and I remember you coming out and saying you were gay as if it was nothing, I could only have dreamt of having the confidence to do that because I was struggling with my sexuality at the time. I remember how in Sophomore year Kelley wouldn't stop talking about your transformation as a soccer player and how I should join the team and then we'd be unstoppable. I declined, obviously. I secretly always wanted to get closer to you, to unravel the mystery that was Tobin Heath. I couldn't understand how you was a total badass but then a top student who loves her friends all at the same time. I felt like I was seeing you everywhere and then I think I heard you properly laugh for the first time and I think that I melted, I wanted to hear that sound on repeat. Kelley kinda started to force to at least watch your games and I was impressed, I realised that I didn't dislike and I think I developed a crush on you which was painful because I would hear all these stories about all these girls that were close to you and I hated it because I wanted to be one of those girls, I wanted to be the girl. I was terrified of thinking that because I realised that I liked you and this went on until midway through Senior year and I felt like I was seeing you everywhere. Then we got assigned this project and part of me was back to disliking you, that was the part I showed to the world, but a bigger part of me still liked you and it was crazy because I didn't even really know you that well but I felt like I did. Then we got given Grace and I've realised that I don't like you." Christen paused and I froze. "Tobin, I realised that I love you. I'm in love with you." Christen said with tears in her eyes, I cupped her face and she looked up at me.

"Chris, I love you too." I said and before I had anytime to process what I just admitted, Christen's lips were on mine. I moved my hands from her face and placed them onto her hips as she climbed into my lap, her hands around my shoulders. I broke the kiss and started dotting kisses around her neck, biting lightly where I knew she would be most sensitive.

"I really want to do this but we're currently sat in our psychology class." Christen said in a realisation and we broke apart both of us letting out a laugh.

"I love you, girlfriend." I said, smitten at the title.

"I love you too, girlfriend." Christen returned before placing one last kiss on my lips.

 

 

*******

 

**_Tuesday_ **

 

I arrived at school with Christen by my side and we made our way to our usual meeting place where our team would be waiting for us.

"Last regular season game at Greenwich. I won't lie to you, I'm slightly emotional." Ashlyn said and Ali immediately comforted her.

"I could basically hear you rolling your eyes then, play nice, even just for today." Christen whispered before placing a kiss to my left cheek.

"Is this a new, official couple I see?" Emily asked as she and Sam approached the group."

Christen and I looked at each other before turning to them team. "You sure bet it is." Christen said in response.

"YES!" Alex shouted before turning to Kelley. "You owe me ten dollars." She finished before turning to the rest of the team.

"I said it would happen after todays game." Kelley clarified before handing the money over to Alex.

"I'm happy for the two of you." Ashlyn said after Kelley had finished.

I stayed quiet for a moment before speaking. "Thanks." Was all I said. Christen squeezed my hand and smiled at me, I winked at her to let her know that I was okay.

The rest of the day went smoothly, I did my best to avoid Ash and Ali and decided I would talk to them after the game but right now there was only one thing on my mind.

"It's just you and me against the world baby." I said in Christen's ear as we lined up, ready to take to the field.

 _Game Time_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a big make up scene between Ali, Ash and Tobin soon. They won't dislike each other forever.  
> Only about five chapters left. I hope you have enjoyed it so far!


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